pronounce us perfect and just against all the accusations of the devil and clamours of our own consciences he will also accept of our persons not for any grace that is wrought in us nor for the merit of any work that is done by us but onely for the sake of Christ whom we do imbrace by faith upon whom we rest and depend and under whose righteousnesse all our sins are hidden and covered out of Gods sight Holy David saith b Ps 23. 1 2 that the man is blessed whose wickednesse is forgiven and whose sin is covered Blessed is the man to whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity Though we are justified onely by Faith without the works of the Law yet it is not by any property vertue or power that Faith hath in it self to justifie but as it hath relation unto Christ it being the sole instrument to unite and knit us unto him with an unseparable union to be made one with him and to be made paâ—takers of his righteousnesse and of all the benefits of his death If we believe that Christ was crucified and died for us c Rom. 4 5 6 7. and that his righteousnesse is made ours by imputation we have then right and interest in all his excellencies and in all the merits of his blood and God in mercy will accept of our works and services though they are performed by us in much weaknesse We may be well perswaded of our justification d Phil 3. 9. because God hath given us a lively hope through Christ that distrusting our own righteousnesse which is of works we may cast our selves upon the righteousnesse which is of God through faith in Christ for our justification Though works are necessary to salvation and to manifest the truth of our faith if they are done for the glory of God and in obedience to his command yet they conduce nothing to our justification neither can they merit the pardon of the least sin e Lu 17. 10 for when we have done all that we can we have done but our duty and yet not so much as God requireth and therefore we are stâ—ll unprofitable servants also our best works as they are wrought by us though we be in the state of grace are defiled and imperfect in the sight of God by reason of the corruption of sin that cleaveth to them Notwithstanding God doth require them of us f Eph. 2. 10 for we were created in Christ Jesus unto good works We can expresse no actions of a spiritualâ— life and no fruits of our sanctification and regeneration in Christ but by our good works g Jam. 2. 17 and our faith is but a dead faith if it be alone without works What life is in our faith if it be barren and fruitlesse How shall we manifest our thankfulnesse to God for all his benefits but by doing that which he commandeth with a thankfull heart Can dead works glorifie God Can they declare our regeneration in Christ or the sanctification of the Spirit And how shall we strengthen our hope of salvation if we are not fruitfull in good works Hereby we do edifie the brethren according to this of our Saviour Christ h Mat. 5. 16. Let your light so shine before mâ—n that they may see your good works and glorifi your father which is in heaven i Tit. 2. 10 Hereby also we do honour and adorn the doctrine of God our Saviour in all things So likewise we shall stop the mouths of the adversaries k 1 Pet. 2. 12 that they may by our good works which they shall behold glorifie God in the day of visitation l 2 Cor. 3. 5. But we are not sufficient of our selves to think any thing as of our selves much lesse to do any thing that is good but our sufficiency is of God For as Paul saith m Phil. 2. 13 It is God which worketh in us both to will and to do of his good pleasure Wherefore we can ascribe nothing to our selves for any good that we do but all the glory and praise of our works must be given to God that he may be honoured and magnified by them But how our works may be good and acceptable to God is set down in the next Chapter Now let us study and meditate with pure affections how to rest upon the righteousnesse of Christ for our justification and not upon our works for if we trust to our works or glory in them they will deceive us Thus saith Paul n Gal. 2. 1â— By the works of the Law can no flesh be justified Also if we make our works copartners with the righteousnesse of Christ in our justification then Christ will profit us nothing for our works do conduce much to our sanctification but they have no place in our justification If we are not perswaded that we are justified in the sight of God we can feel no comfort in Christ no assurance of the pardon of our sins no stedfast hope of salvation If the righteousnesse of Christ be not imputed to us our hearts cannot be seasoned with grace there can be no purity nor holinesse of life and we can do nothing that will please God So likewise if the guilt of our sins be not imputed unto Christ that he may take it from us it will still rest upon our soules it will afflict and terrifie our consciences it will follow us unto judgement and at last be a meanes to sink us down into eternal destruction But here is singular comfort for a poor distressed soul that is under the buffetings of Satan against all his feares and doubtings that if he hath interest in Christ by faith he may say with Paul o Rom. â— 33 34. It is God that justifieth who is he that condemneth It is Christ that died yea rather that is risen again who is even at the right hand of God who also maketh intercession for us who shall separate us from the love of Christ Thus every true believer may comfort himself in the assurance of his justification though his faith be strongly assaulted to make him cast off all hope of salvation for nothing shall be able to separate him from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. The benefits and comforts of true Faith THis faith is such an excellent grace that we may draw from it many singular benefits and comforts if we make use of it upon all occasions and it doth also make us capable by Christ of eternal life hereafter For in the first place it is the sole instrument which the holy Ghost useth to unite us unto Christ that we may partake with him in his righteousnesse and holinesse and in all heavenly and spiritual endowments of grace whereby we are made new creatures in Christ When God seeth us in this gracious condition with Christ then he is pleased to lay no guilt of sin to our charge for our condemnation but to impute the
THE COMFORT OF THE SOUL Laid down by way of Meditation upon some heads of Christian Religion very profitable for every true Christian Composed and writen by Iohn Anthony of London Doctor of Physick Psal 19. ver 14. Let the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be alwayes acceptable in thy sight O Lord my strength and my Redeemer LONDON Printed for G. Dawson and are to be sold by John Mountague at the Sign of the White-Dragon in Duck-Lane 1654. I have perused these Divine Meditations Intituled the Comfort of the Soul and do find them to be so Orthodox and solide pious and profitable that I do approve them well worthy to be Printed and Published JOHN DOVVNAME To the Right Honourable Dame Elizabeth Dygby Baronesse of Geshal in the Kingdom of Ireland Grace Mercy and Peace from God the Father and from our Lord Jesus Christ HAving nothing of mine own that is worthy your Acceptance to express my Cordiall respects and thankfulnesse for those many favours which I have received from you I have taken some spirituall Receipts out of Gods sacred Dispensatory which I am bold to present or Dedicate to your Honour because they are speciall Cordialls for the spirits and precious Antidotes against the evill of sad times Wherein also you will finde some Balm of Gilead for the cure of all spirituall diseases if it be applyed close to the part that is ill affected with the hand of Faith If these things do relish well with your spirituall Palate then I am confident you will take sometime to ruminate hereupon for I know it hath been your constant course to Meditate something dayly of Divine and heavenly things which did strongly induce me to present these unripe fruits of my labours to you which I gathered in mine old age for mine own use according to my first Intention Though I have thus laboured out of my Calling as I am a Physician yet I am not out of my profession as I am a Christian Now seing this Work is come to Publick view I do humbly desire your favourable construction of the frailties that are in it and that you will be pleased to vindicate it from carping spirits for I did not write it to please their curiosity but to refresh and comfort those that do any way stand in need of spirituall consolation If any thing herein can give you any reasonable satisfaction let God have the honour and glory of his own Work and I shall greatly rejoice therein and shall still remain your much obliged Servant JOHN ANTHONY To the READER COurteous Reader if thou dost live under the Crosse and art sensible of these sad times or if Gods visitation be upon thee which makes thee to sigh and groan under the burden and pressure of thy sorrowes so that thy soul desireth comfort and thy spirits want spirituall refreshing and heavenly consolation then I have written this Treatise for thee which I present to thy view wherein thou shalt finde the true way how to demean thy self under Gods visitation how to bear thy crosse with a contented patience how to make the burden of thy sorrowes more easie or how to be delivered out of them if God seeth it to be most for his glory and best for thy good also how to refresh thy spirits and comfort thy soul in what kinde soever it is afflicted Here also thou shalt finde that many of Gods dear servants have suffered as great afflictions as thou canst and yet God did send them comfort and deliverance but specially what Christ thy Saviour hath suffered for thee and what benefit and comfort thou maist have by it if thou canst draw it to thy self and make a particular application of it to thine own sorrowful condition without which it will yeeld thee but small consolation in thy miseries If thou dost meet with any thing here that will fit thy present condition either for edification or for comfort thou must ruminate well upon it to suck out the spirituall juiâ—e to imprint it in thy minde and to bring it close home to thy heart that it may comfort thy soul and cure thy wounded Spirit David found great comfort when he did Meditate on the Word of God My soul saith he shall be satisfied as with marrow and fatnesse and my mouth shall praise thee with joyfull Psal 63. 5 6 lips when I remember thee upon my bed and meditate on thee in the night watches And it must needs be so for this is a duty which God requireth and he takes speciall notice of those that do practice it to pour down his blessings upon them as he did upon Isaack who went out dayly into the field to Meditate Gen. 24. 63 64. upon the wonderfull Works of God and then at that very time God sent him a vertuous Wife If the Spirit of God goeth along with thee in thy holy Meditations they cannot but be comfortable to thy soul thou wilt then conceive aright of the secret and hidden things of God and thou wilt see the infinite wisdom ond power of God in all the Creatures his goodnesse and bounty to thee in them and a glympse of the Majesty and glory of the great Creator God Almighty His holy Spirit will also open thy heart to let in whatsoever spirituall good thou reapest by thy pious Meditations For if thou lookest upon the creature and doest not Meditate something of God in it thou dost look upon it in vain and if thou readest or hearest his Word Preached and dost not settle it upon thy affections by ruminating upon it thou canst not edifie thy heart nor comfort thy soul thereby So likewise if thou doest read any thing in this Treatise that is comfortable to poor dejected Spirits it will not comfort thee if it be not well digested in thy heart and applyed to thine own soul If thou art not acquainted with this holy Duty I have given thee some directions how to perform it and if thou doest first practise it upon thy self to meditate upon thine own condition what thou art by nature and what by grace and considerest seriously in thy thoughts what way thou walkest what steps thou treadest and to what end thy wayes do tend thou wilt not onely come to the knowledge of thy self but thou wilt also learn how to Meditate profitably and comfortably upon God thy Creator upon Jesus Christ thy Redeemer and upon the Holy Ghost thy Sanctifier and Comforter I conclude with this saying of an ancient Father Nothing is found more sweet in this life nothing is conceived more comfortable nothing doth so separate the affections from the love of this world nothing doth so fortifie the minde against temptations nothing doth so stir up man and further him to every good work and duty as the grace and benefit of Divine Meditation and heavenly contemplation Thine in the Lord Christ JOHN ANTHONY A Table of these severall Heads contained in this Book MEditation is a Duty
but when they saw Christ in so mean a condition they were offended in him and refused him according to this of Paul p 1 Cor. 1. 23. that Christ crucified was a stumbling block unto the Jewes and foolishnesse unto the Greeks If Caiaphas had rightly understood the Prophets he would have applied their Prophesies unto Christ that he came not to deliver them from the Romanes but to deliver them ouâ— of the bondage of sin and Satan also he had then understood by the words of Christ that he was both the Son of God and the Son of Man and though he stood before him in a contemptible manner and though his enemies did then insult over him yet they even they should hereafter see him sit in his humane nature at the right hand of God and also coming in the clouds of heaven at the last day to judge both the quick and the dead But he had no spirituall eye to discern the Divininity of Christ in this his despicable condition and he had no believing heart to give credite to his words though they were the words of truth and of eternall life but he made them an occasion of his death for presently upon this he delivers him up to Pilate the Romane Magistrate to be put to death for a blasphemer for the Regall Scepter was now taken from Judah and they had no power to put any man to death Here Meditate with pious affections upon the boundlesse mercy and bountifull goodnesse of God in offering grace to all Christ preacheth salvation even to those that did seek his life he revealeth unto them that were his deadly foes the greatest mystery that ever was to wit the incarnation of the eternall Son of God the exaltation of his humane nature and his glorious triumphing over all his enemies both spirituall and temporall at his second coming which will be at the great day of judgement q 1 Tim. 3. 16. This is the great mystery of godlinesse God manifested in the flesh justified in the Spirit seen of Angels preached unto the Gentiles believed on in the world received up into glory But behold and see the ingratitude of most men who will not receive the glad tidings of salvation though it be brought home to their houses except they may have it on their own conditions if they may still injoy the pleasures and vanities of the world their carnall delights and bosome sins they are willing to imbrace it but if they must part with these and must have it with crosses troubles persecutions and torments and with such like incumbrances they are willing then to be without it Proud men will not receive the Gospell of peace of such as are of no esteem or reputation and Caiaphas will not receive the meanes of grace from Christ himself nor learn the way to salvation of him because he was in bands and his spirituall pride would not suffer him to hearken to the heavenly doctrine of Christ as he was now in this sad condition because he conceived him to be a man of no extraordinary gifts or endowments But be thou O my soul alwayes ready and prepared to receive the Gospel of salvation with all humblenesse of mind meekness of spirit and with hearty and pure affections whensoever or howsoever it be brought to theee from Christ for this heavenly liquor coming from Christ may be as wholsome as comfortable and as profitable if it be brought in an earthen Pitcher as in a silver Cup so that it be purely tempered and that the holy Ghost doth joyn in the administration of it to bring it close home to all thy spiritual diseases that by faith in Christ thou maist be cured If the Gospel of Christ be sincerely preached thou wilt find it full of heavenly comfots and of holy directions for a pious life and conversation 2 Tim. 3. 16. for it is profitable for doctrine for reproof for correction and for instruction in righteousnesse that thou maist be perfect and throughly furnished unto all good works If thou doest esteem of it according to the condition or quality of him that brings it and not according to its own worth or the honour and majesty of him that sends it thou doest then too much undervalue it and dost dishonour God himself that sendeth it For God hath wrought mighty things by weak meanes 1 Cor. 1. 27. he hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise and the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty Also t Jam. 2. 5. He hath chosen the poor of this world to make them rich in faith and in grace for grace is the true riches of the soul and this is the wealth which is most to be desired When God works great things by small means he is then most to be glorified u Judg. 7. 2. God brought down Gideons Army of two and thirty thousand to three hundred that he might have the honour of the overthrow of the Midianites that Israel might not vaunt themselves against him saying Mine own hand hath saved me The Apostles of Christ did many mighty works by their Ministerie though most of them were but poor Fishermen for they did not work by their own strength but they had their power and abilities from Christ 2 Cor. 5. 19 20. for they were his Ambassadors and the word of Reconciliation was committed to them Peters denial of CHRIST COnsider now by Peters example how weak the deâ—rest of Gods Servants are if he doth leave them to their own strength and how unable they are to resist any temptation if the Devil be permitted to assault them and if God doth with-draw his assisting Grace from them in their temptation For though Peter but a few hours before did stoutly oppose a Band of Souldiers in his Masters defence to the hazzard of his own life yet now he is surprised with sudden fear through the subtiltie of the Devil which did greatly shake and endanger his Faith We may very well conceive that it was not barely the words of the High Priests servants that made Peter fall so fearfullie a Mat. 26. 69. as to deny his Lord and Master three several times and that with bitter execrations seeing he loved him so dearlie and did so faithfullie promise not to forsake him though he should die with him But the Devil put a sting into their words which did strike Peter with deadlie fear that he should be brought into the like troubles as his Master was then in and also into danger of his life without doubt the Devil did use all means to aggravate these feares in Peter by his suggestions to make him forget his former promise and to abjure his beloved Master For doubtless he did suggest unto him That if Christ were the Son of God then surelie God would not suffer him to be thus shamefullie intreated or if Christ were able to help himself he would not endure such
it might run down to every member of his mystical body which was typified by r Psal 133. 2. that pâ—ecious ointment which was poured upon Aarons head and ran down to the skirts of his garments so that we have a spiritual light to discern the things that belong to our peace then Christ hath wrought this life in us by his holy Spirit for in the state of nature we were dead to any thing that is heavenly f 1 Cor. 2. 14 and we could not receive the things of the Spirit of God because they are spiritually discerned Secondly if our soules can feed upon heavenly food and if we can expresse all other actions of a spiritual life as to walk in the paths of holinesse to speak the pure Language of Canaan and to have our conversation in heaven while we live here upon earth we may then be fully perswaded that there is a spirituall life in us for so long as sin reigneth in our mortall bodies and untill there be a new creation wrought in us we are spiritually dead to every good work and we can expresse no actions of a sanctified life Thirdly if our souls are cleansed from the guilt of sin in the blood of Christ and if the filth and stains of our sins are washed away in the Laver of Regeneration by his sanctifying grace and covered under his righteousnesse that they appear not to the dishonour of God or to the hurt of our neighbour and that we delight not in any sin but do study and endeavour to serve and please God with a sincere heart and pure affections it is a sure evidence that Christ hath quickned and raised us up from the death of sin to the life of grace Lastly if our duties and services to God proceed from a clean and a purified heart which is sanctified and perfumed with the graces and merits of Christ then God will smell the perfume of them to accept of our persons and of our holy offerings because the Spirit of Christ is in us Thus we may know to our great comfort if we narrowly look into our condition what spirituall life we have and that we have it onely from Christ and by him Wherefore now if thou desirest to live spiritually by Christ thou must faithfully believe that he hath taken away that spiritual death which by nature was upon thee for thy sins and that he onely can give thee this spirituall life for as he hath vanquished and overcome the power of death both spiritual and temporal so he can give a spiritual life as well as a temporal to whom and when he pleaseth This spiritual life thou must have from him if thou canst make a particular application of him to thy self by faith that he is thy Saviour and thy Redeemer for he hath then breathed into thee the Spirit of grace which hath wrought this spiritual life in thee though at the first thou canst feel no power of it without this application of Christ to thy self thou canst draw no comfort from him and he will profit thee nothing It did much comfort Job in his greatest misery when he did thus apply Christ to himself t Job 19. 25 27. I know saith he that my Redeemer liveth whom I shall see for my self If thou canst bring thy heart to close thus with Christ he will give light to thine eyes food to thy soul balm for thy diseases and comfortable refreshing for thy languishing spirits But if thou art still dead in thy sins and hast no spiritual life in Christ thou canst then feel no comfort by him for what good can light do to a dead man What benefit can he have by the daintiest food What can the best medicine profite him And what sense hath he of the best perfume But if thou doest live in Christ and he in thee thou shalt partake with him in his fulnesse of all spiritual graces u Col. 1. 19 for it pleased the Father that in him should all fullnesse dwell u John 1. 16 And of his fulnesse have all we received and grace for grace Now consider further that Christ is the meritorious cause of this spiritual life x Tit. 2. 14 for he gave himself freely and voluntarily to be an oblation and a sacrifice for us to redeem us from all iniquity and from whatsoever we are lyable unto by reason of sin to wit from the guilt of sin from the dominion of sin from the curse of the Law from the bondage of Satan from the terrours of death and from eternall condemnation Also by the power of his resurrection he hath subdued and overcome death hell and the grave that we might be raised out of the grave of sin to live a spiritual life to God in Christ Christ hath wrought our redemption by his active and passive obedience to the will of God whereby we are justified in his sight for he hath taken our life out of the hand of Gods justice where we had no hope to injoy it and hath put it into the hand of his mercy where we are sure through Christ to have the comfort of it here and the happinesse of it hereafter Though we must passe by the gates of hell before we can injoy the sweet consolation of this spiritual life and though we must bring our selves so low in our humiliation and in mortifying of our sins and corruptions as if we were ready to be thrust down into hell yet God will then give us a spiritual life in Christ to support us he will then raise us up to newnesse of life by the sanctifying grace of his Spirit that our spiritual life may appear and that we may be made fit to injoy Christ for ever in the Kingdom of heaven This is the first main end of the passion of Christ that we may be redeemed by the merit of his blood Secondly Christ is the efficient cause of our spiritual life for as we have our justification by the merit of his blood so we have our sanctification by the same blood and these two cannot be separated but must go together for we have no sure evidence that we are justified in the sight of God but by the sanctification of our lives The Act of our justification is wrought at once as soon as we are ingrafted into Christ by Faith but our sanctification must be a continued Act so long as we live in the flesh for the best of Gods servants have so many spots and stains of sin in them that they have dayly need to pray to be every day purified and cleansed with the blood of Christ and to be dayly renewed with the graces of his Spirit This is the second main end why Christ gave himself to be an oblation for us that he might purifie us to be a peculiar people to himself according to this of Paul y Tit. 2. 14 Christ gave himself for us that he might redeem us from all iniquity and purifie unto himself
duty or fall through frailty and infirmity u Hos 14. 4. God in mercy will heal our backslidings and will accept of our imperfect performances because we have relation un to Christ by Faith Now then if we will strictly examine the actions of our lives by those former directions we shall easily find whether our works and services to God have been such as he requireth and performed according to his will that we may have peace of conscience in them here and eternal comfort by them hereafter If we can find by this inquiry that our works have been the fruits of Faith and that we have done our duty to the best of our power with a faithful heart to the honour of God and not out of pride or vain-glory to get the praise of men as the hypocrites do or to any other by-end then our Faith will shine forth in our works and God will graciously accept them But if the actions of our life have been evill they will follow us for evill when we lye down and when we rise up and whithersoever we go If we sleep or wake they will molest and trouble us they will aggravate our sorrowes in our afflictions and our pains in sicknesse they will imbitter all the comforts of our life and increase the fear and terrour of death for they will come into our remembrance when we ly upon our death-beds to vex and terrifie our very souls and to make us uncapable of any heavenly consolation untill the guilt of sin that cleaveth to them be taken away by Faith in the blood of Christ Also u Rev. 14. 13 our evill works will follow us unto judgement to accuse us before the great and dreadful Judge x Rev. 20. 13 and then God will judge us according to them if they be found wicked and sinful we cannot but expect the dreadful sentence of condemnation to be pronounced against us Also after judgement they will increase our torments in hell if we do not prevent it in time by our true repentance while we live here in this life Lastly Faith will fit and prepare us for a blessed and a comfortable death for by it we shall steer the whole course of our lives to the honour of y Col. 1. 10. God it will make us fruitfull in every good work that they may be rightly done both for the matter and for the manner and also to the right end as God hath appointed them we cannot then but live vertuously and piously in the true fear of God and he will reward us of his free bounty and goodnesse though not of merit God will remember our works if they are done in sincerity and in truth to comfort us in the sadnesse of our hearts to ease us in the extremity of pain and sicknesse and to give us a peaceable and a quiet conscience in the assurance of the pardon of our sins and of his grace and favour before the hour of our dissolution shall come upon us Such good works will adorn our profession and make our lives comfortable to us and our conversation sutable to our profession and they will follow us for our good whithersoever we go for there is no guilt of sin that cleaves to them because Christ hath taken it a way whereof we are fully perswaded by Faith z Neh. 13. 14. If we can with good Nehemiah put God in remembrance of our good deeds how will it strengthen our hope and trust in God for his protection in all dangers for his help and succour in all our distresses and for his assistance when we undertake any speciall businesse what sweet consolation will it be to us when we are upon our death-beds if with a clear conscience we can put God in minde a Isa 38. 3. as King Hezekiah did that we have walked before him in truth and with a perfect heart and have done that which was good in his sight If we thus live and thus dye we may then say with Paul b Rom. 14 8. Whether we live we live unto the Lord and whether we dye we dye unto the Lord whether we live therefore or dye we are the Lords c Rev. 14. 13. John heard a voice from heaven saying unto him Blessed are the dead which dye in the Lord from henceforth yea saith the Spirit that they may rest from their labours and their works do follow them We may confidently believe that their condition is most blessed because it is the voice of the spirit of truth that doth affirm it We have also great encouragement to be fruitfull in good works because they will go with us even to the Tribunall seat of God for Christ hath fastned them to our souls that God may then look upon them and remember them for the increase of our joy and happinesse hereafter If we do now ruminate well upon all these several excellent benefits and comforts that come by a true and lively faith in our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ we may draw sweet and heavenly Meditations from thence for the comfort of our souls against the power of the devill the rigour of the Law the dominion of sin the fear of death and against eternal condemnation For we shall finde that hereby we are ingrafted into Christ who hath redeemed us from all iniquity and from whatsoever our sins have made us lyable unto and hath cleansed us from all the pollutions and defilements of sin he hath made us the adopted sons of God and hath given us all the priviledges that do belong unto Sons Also we shall finde that by Christ we are invested into the Covenant of grace and have right to all the gracious promises of God which will sweetly refresh our souls in all fears and doubtings in all difficulties and dangers in all extremities and distresses if we can apply them to our souls by Faith and rest upon them with stedfast hope Wherefore let this be the Meditation of our hearts and the desire of our souls to have a near communion with Christ that we may say with the Spouse d Cant. 2. 16 My beloved is mine and I am his or to say thus with Paul e Gal. 2. 20. I am crucified with Christ Neverthelesse I live yet not I but Christ liveth in me and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the Faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me This particular application of Christ to our selves will draw from him the richest Jewels that are in his Treasury the richest robe and the best garments that are in his Wardrope and his very heart-blood for our redemption If we look a little lower and fix our Meditations upon the holy Ordinances of God we shall finde that which will sweetly comfort and delight our hearts if we have Faith to understand and believe what the holy Ghost saith to us in them for our instruction and consolation It was
which God requireth FOL 1 Rules of direction for our holy Meditations 4 Holy Meditation is the Prerogative onely of a true Christian 9 How dreadfull it is to Meditate on God 12 How to Meditate comfortably on God 20 How to Meditate on the Holy Ghost 30 How to Meditate on the Works of God 48 Concerning the Creation of Man 60 To what end and purpose Man was Created 64 Concerning the Fall of Man 69 Concerning the Redemption of Man 73 The Time of Grace 80 The danger of delayes in seeking Grace 92 Of Christ our Redeemer 97 Of Christs Propheticall Office 106 Of Christs Priestly Office 112 Of Christs Kingly Office 116 Of the Passion of Christ 121 Of Christs Agony in the Garden 128 Concerning the fidelity of Peter and the creachery of Judas 141 What Christ suffered under Caiaphas 157 Peters deniall of Christ 165 Christs sufferings under Pilate 179 Christs sufferings under the Crosse 201 Who were the Agents in the Passion of Christ 211 Of the Penitent Thief 214 Of the Virgin Mary 216 The darkning of the Sun 235 Of the death of our Saviour Christ 248 What happened at Christs death 255 Of the buriall of Christ 261 A brief summe of the Humiliation of Christ 266 Of the Resurrection of Christ 270 Of Christs Ascension up into heaven 275 A brief summe of the Exaltation of Christ 279 Our Aduantage and gain by Christ in this life 282 Our Advantage and gain by Christ in death 290 Our Advantage and gain by Christ after death 296 How Christ is our spirituall life 303 How to injoy true happinesse 314 Concerning our Justification 318 The Benefits and Comforts of true Faith 322 How to increase Faith 329 How to esteem of Faith 333 The sense of Faith may be lost 341 The Stability of true Faith 346 The Conclusion of this Treatise 354 THE COMFORT OF THE SOVL. Meditation is a Duty which God requireth WE read in the sacred Scriptures that God commanded his people a Deut. 6. 8 9. to binde the Words of his Law for a sign upon their hands and to be as frontlets between their eyes to write them upon the posts of their houses and on their gates to teach them diligently unto their children to talk of them in their houses and to think upon them when they walk by the way when they lye down and when they rise up all which was to this end and purpose b Deut. 11 18. that they might lay up his Words in their hearts and in their soules to meditate upon them for their instruction for their spirituall comfort and for their direction in a vertuous life and holy Conversation This is the counsell of the wiseman c Prov. 7. 3 To binde the Commandments of God upon our fingers and to write them upon the table of our hearts that we may be familiarly acquainted with them and to meditate on them upon all occasions Paul gave Timothy diverse holy precepts concerning his life and doctrine d 1 Tim. 4. 15 and then he gave him expresse charge to meditate upon them and to give himself wholy to them that they might be well fastned in his heart to observe them Also when Moses was dead God made Joshua the chief commander of his people and appointed him to bring them into the land of Canaan and to give them the possession of it which was a work so great so difficult and so dangerous by reason of the great strength of the inhabitants of that Land as might make Joshua to shrink from it and afraid to undertake it but God did encourage him by many gracious promises of his assistance to make him able to effect it and therefore he commanded him three severall times to be strong and of a good courage not to be afraid but to rest upon his Word for strength and ability to do that work whereunto God had called him and would assuredly perform his Word if he did observe to do according to all the Law which Moses commanded him and not turn from it to the right hand or to the left that he might prosper whithersoever he went Wherefore God saith thus unto him e Josh 1. 8. This book of the Law shall not depart out of thy mouth but thou shalt meditate therein day and night that thou maist observe to do according to all that is written therein for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous and then thou shalt have good successe Have not I commanded thee This is an holy duty which ought to be fixed upon holy things and performed to an holy end for it is very usefull and profitable very sweet and comfortable to every true Believers soul if it be rightly performed The Saints and servants of God have been very frequent in the practice of this duty whose hearts were inlarged to meditate upon heavenly spiritual things they did thereby draw true consolation to their souls f Psal 63. 6 This was holy Davids exercise day and night g Psal 119. sometimes in the precepts and Statutes of God h Psal 143. 5. sometimes on his wonderfull Acts and excellent Works i Psal 104. 34 and his heart found great sweetnesse in these his Meditations Now then it is richly worth our pains to get this Art of Divine Meditation for it will increase our knowledge of God and of his Laws it will make grace more fruitfull in us and our sorrows lesse grievous It will also strengthen our faith in the promises of God to make us stout and couragious in his Cause to withstand the assaults of the divell and all the oppositions of wicked men How can we be edified by the Preaching of the Word of God if we let it depart out of our mindes and do not chew the cud and ruminate upon it in our hearts How can we teach our children and servants the Lawes of God if they come not frequently into our own meditations How can our wayes be prosperous here upon earth how can we hope to have good successe in what we take in hand if we do not meditate something concerning God day and night If we neglect this pious Duty we do then estrange our selves from God and we bereave our souls of those spirituall benefits and comforts which otherwise they might receive and we lose a great part of the comfort of our lives But this Art is not easily learned common grace or humane learning cannot attain unto it for the affections of the heart cannot be raised up to heavenly contemplations if they are not seasoned with sanctifying grace neither can they delight in spirituall things if they are clogged with earthly cares or drawn away after worldly vanities A true child of God is not alwayes prepared to meditate as he ought to make his meditations edifying and comfortable to his soul for the inward corruptions of his unregenerate part will hinder him the thoughts of his worldly affairs will distract his minde that he cannot
to the people of God in their march through that hot Countrey We are by nature under the spiritual bondage of sin and Satan which is far worse than the Egyptian bondage was to the Israelites and we have no means to be brought out of it but by an almighty power and if God doth deliver us yet we are so ignorant of the way to the heavenly Canaan that we cannot set one step toward it except the holy Ghost doth put a spiritual Light into our understanding to teach and instruct us in the right way to heavenly happinesse And because we shal meet with many spiritual enemies so long as we march thorough the wildernesse of this world the holy Ghost will so protect and defend us that they shall neither hurt our souls by their power nor keep us out of Canaan by their subtilty or malice He will guide and direct us into all holy duties he will give us holy desires and true endeavours to do the will of God and to walk humbly before him in this present world Also the holy Ghost doth protect us from the heat of Gods wrath by working faith in us to lay hold upon the merit of Christs death for the pardon of our sins and by conferring grace for the sanctification of our lives So likewise he doth refresh and comfort our fainting spirits with the sweet dewes of heavenly consolations and he doth mollifie and soften our obdurate and stony hearts with those influences of grace that descend from him that we may p Joel 2. 28 Gal. 5. 22 23. be fruitfull in all good works This holy Spirit doth also quench the fire of sin which otherwise would inflame the whole man with sinful lusts And lastly the holy Ghost doth purge and cleanse the soul from the filth of sin as water washeth away the filth of the body This doth God promise by his Prophet q Zech. 36 25. I will pour clean water upon you and you shall be clean from all your filthinesse and from all your idols will I cleanse you Wherefore we ought seriously to ruminate upon these operations of the holy Ghost for we cannot find the right way to the heavenly Canaan by all that nature or humane learning can afford us we cannot over power our spiritual enemies by our own strength we have no holy desires and no ability in our selves to any thing that is good nothing that is in our power can keep us from the wrath of God and we have nothing that can refresh and and comfort our afflicted spirits But here we shal find that the holy Ghost wil be our guide to this heavenly Country he wil be our Protector against all adversary power and he wil be a true comforter to us in all our sorrowes and upon all occasions in all conditions of life He will bring us unto Christ and wil firmly unite us unto him by faith r 1 Cor. 10. 1 2. for as the ancient Fathers were all under the cloud and all passed thorough the sea and were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea so we are baptized unto Christ by the holy Ghost that our sins may be washed away in his blood and that we may be sanctified by this spirit of grace to live in true holinesse and righteousnesse all our dayes If we can thus Meditate on the holy Ghost it wil be exceeding profitable and comfortable to our souls Thirdly the holy Ghost is resembled to the pillar of fire that conducted the Israelites by night out of Egypt toward the Land of Canaan Now we must consider that such as are the properties of fire such are some of the operations of the holy Ghost in our hearts Fire is the most pure Element and purifies all other elements it doth naturally mount upward it is bright and shining and giveth light to all dark places It doth also warm and comfort every part of our bodies and it is the most active of all the other elements it purifies the gold and burnes away the drosse Thus it is with the holy Ghost for he is essentially pure in himself and purifies every soul from dead works into which he comes he wil not suffer any unclean lust or evill concupiscence to have dominion where he dwelleth and he wil raise up the cogitations of the minde and the affections of the heart to mount upwards in heavenly contemplations Also whereas by nature Å¿ 1 Cor. 2. 10 11. we cannot receive the things of the Spirit of God for they are foolishnesse unto us neither can we know them because they are spiritually discerned God hath revealed them to us by his Spirit for the holy Ghost wil put a spiritual light into our hearts to discern the deep things of God he wil also inflame our affections with an holy zeal to the glory of God and will make our love fervent to the truth So likewise the holy Ghost wil melt our hard and stony hearts and make them tender and gracious flexible and yielding to every holy duty And whereas our hearts are naturally bound up in unbelief and heavy and sluggish to any thing that is good t Psal 119. 32. the holy Ghost wil so inlarge them that with all cheerfulnesse of spirit and willingnesse of minde we shall run the way of Gods Commandements Wherefore now if we have found any of these operations of the holy Ghost in our hearts we shal be in some measure purified and refined from our sins and pollutions we shall have some of the drosse of our corrupted nature consumed and the heavenly graces of the Spirit of God wil shine forth in the integrity of our lives and conversations Also we shall have some spiritual light to guide our darkned understandings in the knowledge of God and of his wayes some fervency in our Prayers some love to the truth and some holy zeal to the true worship and service of God we shal delight in his Law we shal study to do good works and it will be the desire of our hearts and the comfort of our souls to Meditate day and night in the Commandements of God If these Operations of the holy Ghost which are resembled to these two pillars cannot easily work upon us if these cannot raise up our affections to heavenly contemplations and to be forward and ready to every good duty in the service of God then surely we are exceeding dull and stupid and we have great need to pray earnestly that the holy Ghost will be pleased to come with his unresistible power and break our hard stony hearts and molifie this extreme obduracy that is in them with his suppling grace that so we may more easily take the impression of his sanctifying grace in us Consider further that these two pillars which did lead the Israelites out of Egypt were a visible sign of the presence of God with them to conduct them in the way to Canaan to protect and defend them from all their
patience yet God would bring him out of all his afflictions and restore him again to joy and gladnesse of heart Why then do we take so much thought for food and rayment why do we cark and care for the things of this life why are we so cast down if we want them why are we so disquieted if trouble sicknesse or sorrow presse heavy upon us is not the life more than meat and the body more than rayment hath not Christ had experience of these wants and of the crosse and and hath not he sanctified them to us This is the counsel of our Saviour Christ r Luk. 12. 29 30. That we should not be of doubtfull minde to seek after earthly things with too much greedinesse because our heavenly Father knoweth that we have need of them Holy David doth thus parly with his own soul when he was in a sad condition Å¿ Psal 43. 5 Why art thou cast down O my soul and why art thou disquieted within me then he doth thus comfort him self Hope in God for I shall yet praiss him who is the health of my countenance and my God For he will provide for us he will sweetly comfort us in our necessities and will put a blessed end to all our soorows and tryalls But to look a little more about the Works of God if we consider the wonders that are in the sea where the great Leviathan doth sport himself and the costly and precious mineralls that are in the earth which God hath created for the use of man we shall see Gods stamp upon every creature which giveth us just occasion to imploy our pious thoughts and the affections of our hearts in the Meditation of his wonderfull works and how to praise him for his goodnesse and cheerfully to serve him in true thankfulnesse for all his benefits to us We must not therfore be more ignorant and dul of understanding than the beasts we must not be like the Jewes of whom God complaineth thus by his Prophet t Isa 1. 3. The ox knoweth his owner and the asse his makers crib but Israel doth not know my people doth not consider Wherefore let our hearts be now enlarged in the contemplation of the Works of God that we may Meditate his praise and glory for the comfort of our souls How can we forget God seeing his Works are alwayes before our eyes and seeing he doth dayly feed us and cloath us with his good creatures and how can we neglect our praises and thanksgivings unto him when we lye down at night and when we rise up in the morning seeing he hath created both the day and the night for use and comfort Though God hath given us the use of all his creatures here below and power to dispose of them at our own pleasure so that it be for his glory yet we know not how long we shall enjoy them for God onely is the dâ—sposer of time to give more or lesse as he pleaseth for as the Psalmist saith u Psal 74. 16 The day is his the night also is his he hath prepared the light and the Sun God hath given us no more time but the very moment that is present for if it be past we cannot recall it if it be not yet come we know not whether we shall enjoy it when one moment is past it is at Gods pleasure to give us another Wherefore every day and every night that we enjoy from God should be spent to that end for which God hath ordained them which is that his holy worship and service be principally regarded that our lawfull calling be carefully followed in their due seasons which we may take for the glory of God either by our Meditations in his Word or on his Works or by some pious duties as God shall give us fit opportunity For God did not create the day for works of sin and wickednesse but for Works of piety and holinesse neither did he give us the use of the day to spend it vainly idly or unprofitably but to be spent about that which doth conduce to his honour and glory and to the good of our own souls Also God did not create the night to be spent in works of darknesse neither did he give us the use of the night for luxurious pleasures but to weep and mourn for our sins u Psal 6. as David did and for holy Meditations also to refresh our bodies and spirits when they are wearied with the labours of the day before to make us the more fit for the duties following If we thus spend our time it will keep us from sin in the day and from uncleannesse in the night Thus God doth teach us highly to prize our time and to improve it to the best advantage of his honour x Phil. 2. 12 and to the working out of our own salvation with fear and trembling So likewise y Eph. 5. 16. we ought to redeem the time that we have lost because the dayes are evill and that must be by doubling our future obedience to Gods Commandements Thus we may enrich our souls in the knowledge of God if we do devoutly Meditate on him and upon the creatures which he hath made We have shewed in generall how God provideth what is fitting for all living creatures we come now to shew some speciall works of Divine Providence to the Saints and Servants of God when they are brought into such straits that they know not what to do nor which way to turn themselves for safety If we have means to escape the danger or to be delivered out of it and we do neglect it we have then no ground to hope for safety or deliverance by the Providence of God because we bring our selves into the danger but if we have no means to escape and no way to be delivered out of any dangerous strait we may then cast our selves upon the Providence of God and he will make a way for us to escape because he hath brought us into this strait to manifest his own work of Providence for his own glory and for our safety z Gen. 22. Thus he brought Abraham into a great strait when he did expresly command him to offer his onely son Isaac whom he loved for a burnt offering Abraham must now either violate his faith and obedience to God or else he must slay his own dear son who was the heir of the promise but Abraham cast himself upon the Providence of God and would not disobey his command then God shewed him a Ram which he took and offered up for a burnt offering in the stead of his Son God did likewise bring the children of Israel into a terrible strait when they marched out of Egypt for they could turn no way from apparent danger of destruction the red sea was before them their enemies were behinde them and mountains were on each side so that there was no way or means to escape a Exod. 14.
10. then they were sore afraid and cryed out to the Lord. And Moses said unto the people Fear ye not stand still and see the salvation of the Lord which he will shew to you to day Then the Lord made a way for them through the sea and saved them from their enemies but the sea drowned all the host of the Egyptians that pursued after them The Prophet Gad came to David and told him the Word of the Lord b Shall seven years of famine come unto thee in thy land or wilt thou flee three moneths before thine enemies while they pursue thee or that there be three dayes pestilence in thy land This put David into a great strait but he cast himself upon the mercies of God and did choose to fall into the hand of the Lord and not into the hand of man for he knew that his mercies were great c â—hil 1. 23 24. Paul was in the like strait for he knew not whether to choose to live which was more needfull to the Philippians or to dye which was far better for himself Sometimes God suffers the devill and wicked men to lay their traps to ensnare his own servants if he seeth them secure and carelesse of their wayes and though they do maliciously intend and purpose their hurt and d 1 Cor. 10. 10 13. destruction yet God by his wise providence will make a way for them to escape the danger of them all that he may magnifie his own glory thereby Sometimes also God doth suffer his servants to be pinched with want and scarcity to be long under afflictions and under the crosse and for some ends best known to his Divine wisdome he doth long defer to manifest his Providence to them for their succour and comfort which is a very great tryall of their faith hope and dependence upon God and many of Gods dear children have complained that he did not help and relieve them and that he suffered his enemies so long to triumph over them Thus saith the Psalmist e Psal 94. 3 Lord how long shall the wicked how long shall the wicked triumph Thus David complaineth f Psal 42. 9 I will say unto God my rock Why hast thou forsaken me Why go I mourning because of the oppression of the enemy Also thus Asaph complained when he was in great distresse g Psal 77. 7 7 8 9 10. Will the Lord cast off for ever And will he be favourable no more Is his mercy clean gone for ever ever doth his promise fail for evermore hath God forgotten to be gracious hath he in anger shut up his tender mercies And then he doth confesse that it was his infirmity to question the good Providence of God But some do repine and murmur against God and against his wise Providence through unbelief if they have not their wants necessities supplied at their pleasure and if they have not deliverance out of their troubles and tribulations when they expect it These are ready to say with Jehoram that wicked king h 2 Kin. 6. 33. Behold this evill is of the Lord what should I wait on him any longer Holy David doth expresse in diverse of his Psalmes how he waited for the Lord from day to day how he rested on the Lord and how patiently his soul waited for him If we thus wait upon God i Isa 30. 18 then the Lord will wait that he may be gracious unto us and therefore we ought to wait for him But if our Faith in God can reach no further than humane sense or reason can carry it we dishonour God by our unbelief though we have formerly had great experience of his good Providence to us and we shall provoke him to wrath as the Israelites did in the wildernesse when they said k Psal 78. 19 20. Can God furnish a Table in the wildernesse Behold he smote the rock that the waters gushed out and the streams over flowed can he give bread also can he provide flesh for his people Thus they believed not in God and rested not upon his Providence though they had seen so many of his great wonders which he had wrought for them Wherefore now let this be the desire of our hearts and souls l Eph. 3. 17 that our faith may be rooted and grounded in the love of God to us in Christ who with him hath given us all things The glorious creatures in heaven are comfortable to us by our interest in Christ and all creatures here below are for our use and at our command and service because we have right to them by faith in Christ without which we can have no comfort in them and no assurance that they belong unto us If our faith be well rooted it will then be fruitfull in all good works and it will never decay because it doth spring from a Divine Principle and is continually watered with a spirituall dew from heaven Also there is great need that it be well grounded and built upon a sure rock because we shall meet with strong assaults and temptations which like boysterous windes and billowes will seek to overturn it and we cannot comfortably injoy the good creatures of God if we do not injoy them in Christ our Saviour which must be onely by faith in him God himself will sometimes try our faith to the utmost by afflictions and crosses by suffering our enemies and wicked men to vex our very souls or by withdrawing his assisting grace from us by clouding the light of his countenance or by deferring the manifestation of his Divine Providence when we are in any strait or in any necessity which we could not shun and cannot tell which way to turn our selves because we have no means of help comfort and salvation but onely to cast our selves upon the Providence of God which we cannot comfortably do if our faith be not well grounded in Christ the rock of our salvation For if it be grounded upon any sandy foundation as upon our naturall endowments upon common grace or upon any earthly thing it will fall at every gust of temptation at every wave of affliction and it will not endure the fiery tryall it doth rest more upon the arm of flesh than it doth upon God and it seeks rather to secondary means for help and succour than it doth unto God and in the end it will deceive us In the last place God is wonderfull in his works of justice and in his Works of mercy both to the just and and to the unjust but in a farre differing manner to them both and to a farre-differing end For God will not suffer sin to be unpunished wheresoever he findeth it If his own children offend he will chastise them with a fatherly correction in much love and tender compassion and to bring them to better obedience but his loving kindnesse he will not take from them according as he said to David m 2 Sam. 7. 14 15. If thy
son commit iniquity I will chastise him with the rod of men and with the stripes of the children of men but my mercy shall not depart away from him But God punisheth the sins of the wicked in anger and with much severity for their destruction his own children are reformed by their corrections but the wicked are more hardned in their sins by their punishments This of the Prophet is verified in them n Jer. 5. 3. O Lord thou hast stricken them but they have not grieved thou hast consumed them but they have refused to receive correction they have made their faces harder than a rock they have refused to return God doth also bestow his mercies and blessings upon them both he doth commonly give more of his temporall blessings to the wicked than he doth to the godly to leave them without excuse and to give them means and ability to glorifie God but they abuse them to sin and uncleannesse to excesse and riot o Eccl. 5. 13 This is that evill which the Preacher did see under the sun namely riches kept for the owners thereof to their hurt But God hath speciall gifts and blessings which he bestoweth onely upon the godly and these are the saving and sanctifying graces of his Spirit which are peculiar onely to them and reserved for them Wherefore now if we seriously ruminate upon the Works of God we shall finde much matter for our instruction and for our spirituall consolation The knowledge of the creature is a ready way to bring us to the knowledge of the Creator and the due observation of the Works of God will bring us to the love of him to the fear and dread of him and to the obedience of his commands We have dayly experience of the Works of Gods Providence and of his goodnesse to us in Christ which should strengthen our faith hope and confidence in him though he doth sometimes bring us into great straits and layeth great tryalls upon us and it should keep us from murmuring and repining though he doth long delay to send us help and comfort in time of need Also it should keep us from carking care and from immoderate seeking of earthly things because God will provide for us and will not suffer us to lack any thing that is good We should therefore wait upon him and wait patiently for his salvation in all our wants and necessities in all our troubles and tribulations and in all straits and distresses which the malice of the devill or wicked men can bring upon us for God can and will by his wise Providence turn that to our good which they intend and purpose for our hurt How should we then delight to meditate on God in all his Works seing p Psal 145. 17. the Lord is righteous in all his wayes and holy in all his works What comfort can we want in the saddest times seeing God watcheth over us by his Divine Providence for our good what need we fear the malice or power of our spirituall enemies seing we have Gods Protection to keep and defend us from them If we â—ay up these things in our hearts our souls will have the comfort of them in all the sadnesse and sorrowes that we shall meet with in this life Concerning the Creation of Man NOw we come to the Principall piece of Gods Workmanship which he wrought here upon earth and that is the Creation of man in which great Work the three Persons in the sacred Trinity did agree with one consent and gave him such a body as should be capable of immortality and such a soul as should receive the impression of the image of God for thus saith the Lord a Gen. 1. 26 Let us make man in our image after our likenesse Man must needs then be created in innocency in righteousness and true holiness without spot and blemish or any imperfection either in his soul or body There was no perversnes in his wil no folly in his understanding no corruption in his heart for God gave him ability and a willing minde to obey him and a wise and an understanding heart able rightly to know God his Creator and to worship and serve him as he ought to be served Also he did know the nature of all the beasts in the field of all the fowles in the air and the vertue of all herbs and Plants and God made him presently fit for that rule and soveraignty which he gave him over the creatures God did also set his love upon him and crowned him with glory and honour according to the words of the Prophet David b Psal 8. 4 5 6. What is man that thou art mindfull of him or the son of man that thou visitest him For thou hast made him a little lower than the Angels and hast crowned him with glory and honour Thou maâ—est him to have dominion over the work of thy hands thou hast put all things undâ—r his feet For he was created in his full perfection fit to rule and govern the creatures whom God had made for his use and service As God did shew his wonderfull wisedome and power in the creation of Man because he made him such an excellent creature of the dust of the earth so he now sheweth no lesse power and wisdome in fashioning him in the womb for thus saith holy David c Psal 1 39. 1â— 15. I will praise thee for I am fearfully and wonderfully made marvelous are thy Works and that my soul knoweth right well my substance was not hid from thee when I was made in secret and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth The Preacher also saith d Eccl. 11. 5 That we know not how the bones do grow in the wombe of her that is with child There are more wonders in man than there are parts and members of his body and every one of them calls for due consideration The eye is but a little member and yet the best oculist cannot finde out all the wonders that are contained in it Who can discover the windings and turnings of the brain how it worketh upon whatsoever it apprehendeth It is troubled with visions and dreams in the night it is at no quiet all the day man hath no command over his own thoughts but they flie swiftly from the East to the West and they bring back to remembrance things that were long past and gone So likewise there are such secret corners in the heart that no man is able to discover what is hidden there God only that formed it knoweth the breadth and deepth of it his all-seeing eye can search into it and nothing that lurketh there can be hid from him Who can declare the wisedome of God in the Creation of man in the faculties and endowments of his soul in the structure of his body and how he is fashioned in the womb we may admire at these things but we cannot comprehend them Now let us bring down our thoughts
incline the will or else we cannot receive it All heavenly gifts and spiritual graces come from God which the Father is sometimes said to give according to this of James Å¿ Jam. 1. 17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above and cometh down from the Father of lights Sometimes also the Sonne is said to give them for thus saith the Apostle t Eph. 4. 8. when he ascended up on high he led captivity captive and gave gifts unto men that is he gave not onely places of dignity and of authority to some in his Church but also he gave them all spiritual indowments of grace meet for their several places and functions But these heavenly graces are properly wrought in our hearts by the holy Ghost how and when he pleaseth We must therefore crave his help we must wait his time and attend upon the means until he shall be pleased to work grace in us and we must resolve without delaies or excuses u Heb. 3. 7. to accept of grace even that very day when God doth offer it and not to grieve his good Spirit by refusing the sweet tender of grace or by losing any opportunity wherein God may be glorified by this heavenly work of grace in us Wherefore Ps 8. 4 5. be not thou like the deaf adder that stoppeth her ear which will not hearken to the voice of charmers charming never so wisely but when any means of grace is offered or when thou feelest a good motion in thy heart be ready to imbrace it for that is Gods call and then Christ knocketh at the door of thy heart x Rev. 3. 20. as he did at the door of the Laodiceans if thou dost presently open unto him he will come in to thee and will sup with thee and thou shalt sup with him but if thou deferrest it until the morrow thou knowest not whether he will knock again or not O what a bountiful and gratious guest dost thou lose if thou wilt not open thy heart when the Spirit of Christ knocks there either by the preaching of his Word by holy inspirations by his blessings by afflictions or by any other means whatsoever If thou belongest unto him thou wilt know his knock thou wilt know his voice thou wilt make hast and prepare the best rooms in thine affections to give him entertainment and thou wilt clear away all the filth of thy sins by faith and true repentance that he may come into a clean heart that nothing may displease or discontent him for he comes not to lodge with thee a night or two as a stranger or to sojourn with thee a moneth or a year and then to leave thee y Eph. 3. 17. but he will dwell in thy heart by faith z Joh. 14. 23 and will abide with thee for ever by his holy Spirit When he is come he will furnish his rooms with his own furniture he will perfume them with his own merits so that whatsoever issue from thence shall be a sweet savour well pleasing and acceptable to God he will also beautifie and adorn all the faculties of thy soul with spiritual and heavenly graces he wil heal and cure al thy spiritual diseases he will be a Prophet to thee to teach and instruct thee in the wayes of godliness he will be thy High-priest to make intercession for thee and to present thy prayers and oblations unto God his Father also he will be thy King to rule in thy heart with his scepter of righteousness and to subdue all the enemies of thy salvation Christ will feast thee at his own table with bread of life water of life and with heavenly Manna which are precious dainties and spiritual food for thy soul to feed upon and thy heart will rejoice and be glad in him Thou shalt also injoy a Gal. 5. 22 23. the fruits of his Spirit which are love joy peace long-suffering gentleness goodnes faith meekness temperance and all that belong unto thee shall partake of the riches of his goodness and of his blessings b Ps 24. 7. Let thy gates therefore stand open that the King of glory may enter in and be thou as ready to receive him with all joy and gladness of heart c Luc. 19. 6. 9. as Zachaeus was to receive Christ when he was in the flesh who brought salvation to his House Be not thou like the spouse in the Canticles d Cant. 5. 2â— who would not rise out of her bed of security to open the door of her heart to her beloved but suffered him to stand knocking and calling until his locks were wet with the drops of the night Now if thou hast any care of thy souls health study and meditate how to observe the times and means of grace and how to improve them to the glory of God and to thine own spiritual gain Canst thou observe the times and seasons of the year for the fruits of the earth and hast thou no care to take the opportunities that God gives thee for grace learn of the marriner who will hoyse up sail when the wind serves for him and when God offers thee grace do thou raise up thy heart and affections to receive it If thou refusest his gracious goodness to thee herein it is no wonder if thou art barren of true vertue and piety if thy soul be without spiritual comfort in thy sorrows and afflictions and it is no marvel if thou art fruitless in all good works If thou wilt make the true gain of thy time thou must diligently attend to the holy ordinances of God thou must thankfully receive his mercies and blessings thou must bear the Cross of Christ with patience and with meekness submitting thy self with all humbleness of spirit to the will and pleasure of God Also thou must repent of holy duties omitted as well as of sins committed and howsoever God shall deal with thee at that very time make an holy use of it for the glory of God and for the comfort of thy soul If the devil hath deluded thee with false pretences or hath lulled thee asleep in his bed of security so that thou hast slighted the means of grace and hast vainly spent thy precious time without any spiritual or heavenly gains thou must labour with all Christian diligence to recover it again which thou maist do by the gracious help and assistance of the holy Ghost herein for thou hast no ability in thy self to get out of these dangerous snares of the devil or to redeem the time that thou hast lost To conclude if thou dost desire to make the true gain of the time of grace thou must strive to remove out of thy heart whatsoever doth displease or dishonour God and whatsoever may hinder the operations of the holy Ghost and the current of grace to thy heart For if thy mind is carried after the love of the world after vain pleasures or sinful delights and if thou dost
from the Lords own mouth that it is the property of a good shepheard t Ezec. 34. 3 4 to feed the flock to strengthen the diseased to heal the sick to bind up that which is brokâ—n to bring again that which is driven away to seek that which is lost and to protect his flock from the danger of the wolf Isaiah did prophesie thus of Christ u Isa 40. 11 He shall feed his flock like a shepheard he shall grather the lambs with his arm and carry them in his bosome and shall gently lead those that are with young This tender care Christ hath over every lamb and every sheep that belongeth to his fould If we are then his sheep u Ioh. 10. 3 4. we know his voice we will hear it we will follow him and obey his voice Thus saith David x Iâ—sal 23. the Lord is my shepheard I shall not want If the Lord be our shepheard then surely our shepheard is the Lord Iehovah under whose shadow we shall be preserved and from whom we shall receive all sweet consolation and refreshing Thus saith the Lord by his Prophet y Eze. 34. 23 And I will set up one shepheard over them and he shall feed them even my servant David which is Christ the Lord. Fourthly Christ is resembled z Rev. 2 2. 2. to the tree of life which did bear twelve manner of fruits and yielded her fruit every moneth and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the Nations Now then a Cant. 2. 3. if we sit down under the shadow of this tree we shall find great pleasure and delight we shall be preserved from the heat of Gods wrath we shall be refreshed thereby in the scorching heat of afflictions and fiery tryals and under this shadow the burning heat of our sinful lusts will be cooled and asswaged If we feed upon the fruit of this tree by faith which is the body of Christ crucified upon the Cross and his blood powred out it will be sweet and pleasant to our spiritual tast b Iohn 6. 5â— for it will â—e the bread of life to make us live for ever c Ioh. 4. 14. and his blood will be a fountain of living water which will spring up in us unto euerlasting life The leaves of this tree are his gracious promises which will heal and cure all the spiritual diseases and wounds that our sins have made in our souls if we do apply them to every particular wound by faith Lastly Christ is resembled to a bridegroom and then the whole Church of God and every true believer is his spouse and his bride That is that which Iohn the Baptist said d Iohn 3. 29 He that hath the bride is the bridegroom which he then spake of Christ Now there is a wonderful joy and rejoicing between the bridegroom and the bride and the Prophet expresseth Gods rejoicing over his people by this mutual joy that is between them e Isa 62. 5 As the bridegroom rejoiceth over the bride so shall thy God rejoice over thee Who can describe the perfect love of Jesus Christ to his spouse who can declare the loving affections of the bridegroom towards his bride what excellent benefits doth he bestow upon her of his own bounty and grace without any of her deservings though she hath many spots blemishes yet he will not forsake her but will sanctifie her and make her holy chast and pure fit to be his spouse being adorned with his own ornaments of grace This doth evidently appear in that excellent song of Solomon where the admirable love of Christ to his spouse is expressed and also the intire affection of the Church unto him This is Christ our gracious Redeemer and these are some of the heavenly comforts that we shall enjoy by him if we can imbrace him by faith as our blessed Saviour and bridegroom of our souls We may now draw much comfortable matter from these several resemblances of Christ for the strengthning of our weak faith and for the supporting of our drooping spirits also they will afford us excellent matter for our instruction to teach us how to demean our selves towards him and where to find true comfort in time of need If we are branches of this vine we shall draw grace and vertue from him to make us fruitful in all good works to walk uprightly before God and to live comfortable in what estate or condition soever we be If Christ be our head we will be directed by him in all our wayes we will seek unto him for protection against all our enemies for preservation from all casualties and dangers and for deliverance out of all our troubles also that we may receive from him some influence of spiritual grace without which we cannot move one step toward heaven If Christ be our shepheard then we must be harmless and meek as his lambs our ear must be open to his voice we must follow him and none but him f Psa 2. 2. 3 for he will make us to lye down in green pastures he will lead us forth beside the waters of comforts and will bring us forth in the paths of righteousness and will also plentifully provide for us though his rod of correction or his staffe be upon us yet they shall be for our great benefit and consolation So likewise if we can shroud our selves by faith under the shadow of this tree of life it will greatly refresh our souls and we may find cure for all our spiritual diseases by applying the promises of the Gospel and the merit of Christs sufferings to our selves by faith But above all if we can feed upon the blessed fruit of this tree by faith in the hearing of the Word preached in the worthy receiving of the Lords Supper and in our devout and zealous meditations on Christ crucified for us it will nourish us up to eternal life Lastly if we are betrothed unto Christ by faith he will then rejoyce over us to do us good he will make us pure and holy and will hide all our deformities of sin under the robe of his own righteousness out of Gods sight and will adorne us with his own spiritual and heavenly graces that we may be lovely in his sight and fit to be wedded unto him for ever hereafter in the Kindome of heaven We are also bound by vertue of this our union to love Christ with pure affections to honour him above all and to keep our selves from spiritual fornication thaâ— the may delight in us to do us good and never to leave and forsake us The consideration of these things is well worthy our serious and devout meditations because hereby we shall the better know Christ our Redeemer and we shall draw neerer into communion with him who is the fountain of all true consolation and the onely meritorious cause of our salvation by that redemption which he hath wrought for us This knowledge of
God that doth purge our consciences from dead works to serve the living God Also Iohn saith g Rev. 1. 7 that the blood of Christ the Son of God clenseth us from all sinne so that no spots no staines no guilt of sinne shall cleave to our souls to our condemnation and as he in himself according to his divine nature was infinite so the price which he paid at his Passion for our redemption was of infinite worth and the benefits that we receive by him are likewise infinite If we are clensed from the guilt of all our sins by the blood of Christ then the sting which sin hath put into all things that we possesse is taken away and we may comfortably use them to the glory of God and Christ by his resurrection and ascension hath sanctified them to us for our good riches shall not make us proud or ambitious nor steal away our hearts from God want and penury shall not make us repine or murmur against the providence of God to make us forsake him but all things shall work together for our good death shall not be terrible but advantage to us and we shall sleep quietly in our graves until the general resurrection because no guilt of sinne will lie down with us in the dust to follow us unto Judgement Though sinne hath wounded our souls i Mal. 4. 2. yet if we fear his Name the Sun of righteousness shall arise with healing in his wings to cure it for k Luc. 10. 34. Christ like the good Samaritan will pour in wine and oyl to clense and heal it Though sinne doth sometimes over-power us yet Christ by vertue of his death will subdue and kill it in us and by the power of his resurrection he will quicken us up to newness of life and he will make our unruly passions and sinful desires to be tributary and servants to us by the power of his Spirit and of his sanctifying grace l Iosh 9. 23. as Ioshua made the Gibeonites hewers of wood and drawers of water for the house of God Lastly m 1 Thes 1. 10. Christ hath delivered us by his Passion from the wrath to come and from all the punishments that are due to us for our sins Christ did not begin his Passion until he had fulfilled all righteousness in his life and doctrine that the Law required though his whole life was a life of suffering and of sorrow But when he knew that the time was at hand when he must offer up his body a sacrifice to God for the sinnes of the world n Mat. 26. 21 he told his disciples that one of them should betray him into the hands of his enemies o Joh. 16. 32 that they all should be scattered from him and also what he should suffer in his Passion notwithstanding he did not shrink from it but did willingly undertake it because it was his Fathers will to have it so Wherefore he did arm himself with divine patience and meekness to suffer whatsoever was appointed in Gods decree should be put upon him and he prepared himself by prayer for that great work This is to teach us to submit with all meekness of spirit to the will of God in all our sufferings how to prepare our selves for them and how to demean our selves in them God hath appointed every man some work to do and when one work is finished he hath another ready for him for God requires that we should be diligent and painful in our callings frequent in holy duties and industrious in his vineyard p Mat. 20. 6 The good Housholder in the Gospel rebuked those that did stand all the day idle q Eze. 16. 49 Idlenesse was one of the sins of Sodom which brought down fire and brimstone from heaven upon it This is one of the properties of a good wife r Pro. 31. 27 that she looketh well to the wayes of her houshold and eateth not the bread of idleness God doth not appoint to every one their work alike for Paul had more work appointed him than any of the Apostles Å¿ 2 Cor. 11. 28. for the care of all the Churches came dayly upon him Abraham had harder work to do when he was to offer up his onely Son to God than any of the Patriarchs If God appointeth much work he will give time to doe it if his work be hard strength and ability to go thorough with it Wherefore if God shall call us to any hard service which is not pleasing to our nature or may seem impossible to humane strength we ought not to consult with flesh and blood what to do but to be obedient to the will and pleasure of God though we can expect no outward help nor support in it for if we rest upon God he knoweth how when to make us able to perform what he commandeth and to bear what he layeth upon us If we believe that God will assist us in his own work we shall set upon it with good courage and Christian fortitude That we may the better do any work that God commandeth we must prepare our selves for it by faithful prayer and then rest upon the assisting grace of God with stedfast hope that he will both help us in it and will bless and prosper our indeavours to his glory and to our comfort Thus we should do every day in the works of our calling but chiefly on the Lords day when we should spend our whole time in his worship and service Now let our hearts faithfully meditate upon the Passion of Christ and upon every particular that he suffered for our sakes and then we shall find the bitterness of it for the wrath of God was in every part of his sufferings and followed him from place to place even to mount Calvary until divine justice was fully satisfied for all our sins then we shall imbrace him with hearty affections and our souls will rest comforted in the assurance of our redemption thereby of Christ's Agony in the garden THe hour is now come when Christ must pay the whole debt to God his Father which he did undertake for us now is the time when the justice of God must be satisfied for our sinnes now doth God deliver up his dear Son to the powers of darkness now doth he cloud the bright beams of his glorious countenance from him and leaves him to himself to encounter with the devil because be saw the guilt of all our sins upon him and now doth the devil take a double advantage against our dear Saviour and with all his power and malice he doth fiercely set upon him in a single combate thinking now to prevail because God did seem to discountenance him and also because there was sin and that very great which was laid to his charge for the guilt of all the detestable and abominable sinnes of all the elect of God was imputed to him and the devil knew how odious and
be not conveyed to our hearts by faith as it iâ— to the ear and to the hand by the Minister also if the holy Ghost doth not give us a spirituall appetite to it that our heartâ— may spiritually feed upon it it will not be the sweet savour of life unto life unto us but rather the savour of death unto death If the devill can bereave us of the benefites that come by the meanes of Grace and make us lose the opportunity of it and can keep us from the true knowledge of God and of his Son Jesus Christ as he did Judas he will then lead us on in a sinful and wicked course of life until he doth bring us to eternal perdition Thus by degrees he brought Judas from infidelitie to hardness of heart after he had taken possession of him until at last he fell into despair and became his own executioner for his damnable treason against his Lord and Master for presentlie after he hanged himself y Act. 1. 8. he burst asunder in the midst and all his bowels gushed out Thus did God give him his just reward for his horrible sin and impiety against Christ and yet he was one of his Disciples and had as much means of grace as the rest had and also as many common and external gifts of the Spirit as they had and did see the great works that Christ had done And thus will God shew his justice and judgements upon impenitent and notorious offenders that are so hardned in their sins that no meanes of Grace can bring them to Repentance Now examine thy self thou that dailie seest the wonderful works of God if thou canst look beyond nature and see his power and wise providence in them if thou canst discern the finger of God when great men are brought down and men of low degree are exalted also if thou canst see how God will bring to pass his own designs against all opposition of wicked men and that he can discover the hellish plots and maginations of the Devil and his instruments z Plal. 7. 15. and will make them fall into the same pit which they have digged for others a Esth 1. 10. as he did unto wicked Haman If thou seest these and the like things come to pass thou must believe that it is the work of God for his own glory and the good of his Church Peter did see the great works of Christ he did believe that they were wrought by the power of his divine nature Judas did also see the same works but he could not discern the divinity of Christ in them If thy condition be like unto that of Peter that thou canst see a divine power in the great works that are wrought here upon earth and that God by his wisdom and providence can dispose of all the troublesome chances and changes that happen here either in Church or State to his own glory to the good of his people and to the confusion of his and their enemies then thou doest rightlie understand the waies of God by a spiritual illumination that is in thy heart But if with Judas thou canst no discern Gods divine power in his works on earth to over-rule all adversarie power b Psal 2. 2. though they rage in fury and take counsel together against the Lord and against his anointed then thine understanding is blinded and thou liest open to all kind of dangers and distractions of mind Search again into thine own heart thou that livest where the Gospel of Christ is sincerely preached and his holie Sacraments rightlie and duly administered and examine thy self with what affections thou doest come to those holie Ordinances of God what grace is wrought in thee and how thy faith is strengthened by them how much sin is weakned and how thy life is reformed Also examine what spiritual life thou hast what fruits it doth bring forth what care thou hast to nourish it by thy profitable hearing of the Word of God and by thy worthy receiving of the Lords Supper if thou canst give a good account that thou hast spent thy time profitably and hast improved the means of grace to the best advantage then thou art a faithful servant to thy Lord and Master Jesus Christ as Peter was But if this heavenlie food will not please thy palate it cannot nourish and comfort thy soul because thou hast some secret corruptions or some beloved sin that keeps the sweet influence of grace from thy heart and then thou wilt reap as little benefit by the Word of God and by his holie Ordinances as wretched Judas did though he heard Christ himself preach to him Surely God doth still send down this heavenlie Manna blessed be his holie name for it and thou maiest gather it for the nourishment and comfort of thy soul if thou wilt but if thou canst find no spiritual sweetness in it thy taste is not then spiritual but it is dulled with worldly cares or sinful pleasures which must be purged out of thy heart by the blood of Christ before thou canst with Peter take pleasure and delight to hear the words of Christ c John 6. 68 which are the words of eternall life and before thou canst make it the joy of thy heart to meditate on the Statutes of God How canst thou hazard thy life for Christ as Peter did and for the truth of his Gospel if thou art not well instructed and a good proficient in his School And how canst thou live a spirituall life to God if thy heart hath not sucked vertue and power from Christ by faith who is the fountain of this water of life and of this coelestial food to nourish thee up to everlasting life Look now a little upon Peters zeal for his Masters safety he resisted those that came to apprehend him d John 18. 10 11. and smote the high Priests servant but Christ cured the wound and rebuked Peter for it because his zeal was not well grounded for he did endeavour to hinder him in the work which God had appointed him to do concerning mans redemption and therefore Christ said unto him The cup which my father hath given me shall I not drink it This may teach us to drink willingly any cup of affliction that our heavenly Father shall give us for it must needs be good and profitable to us if we receive it from God as from the hand of our Father Also that holy zeal or fervency of spirit in Gods Cause is a duty which he requireth and his servants do practise it yet it must be regulated according to knowledge and to the glory of God for blind zeal will lead us into many errours Davids zeal was rightly regulated e Psal 119. 139. My zeal saith he hath consumed me because thine enemies have forgotten thy words f Num. 25. 11 12. Such was the zeal of Phinehas in the matter of Zimri and Cozby which turned away the wrath of God from the
children of Israel And therefore God gave to him and to his seed after him his covenant of peace even the covenant of an everlasting Priesthood If we have this holy zeal and fervency of spirit in our Prayers and in all other services that we perform unto God he will hear them and will graciously accept them and return us a blessed answer in due time g Rev. 3. 19. When Christ had rebuked the Laodiceans for their lukewarmnesse he doth counsell them to be zealous and to amend for this fire of holy zeal will take away the coldnesse of our affections in our Prayers Meditations Thanksgivings and in all other our holy duties to God This is one end of our Redemption by Christ for Paul saith h Tit. 2. 14 That Christ gave himself for us that he might redeem us from all iniquity and purifie unto himself a peculiar people zealous of good works But there is a zeal that comes from a blinde devotion which will easily mislead us i Rom. 10. 2 3. Paul did confesse that the Jews had a zeal of God but it was not according to knowledge for they went about to establish their own righteousnesse by the Law because they were ignorant of the righteousnesse of God which was by Christ Wherefore study and labour for heavenly wisedome and spirituall understanding to carry thy zeal the right way and to regulate it with an holy discretion that it may not exceed the bounds of Christian moderation but that it may be steered according to the will of God and to his glory and not according to thy passions or to a wrong end If there be an holy zeal in thy prayers they will speedily mount up to God and be quick messengers to return thee a gracious answer from him whereas cold and dull prayers ascend up heavily to God and they will as slowly return with a blessing So likewise this holy zeal will put life into all thy devotions and duties to God to make thee perform them with a willing minde and a chearfull heart Now look once more upon the treason of Judas and see if ever there was the like treachery plotted or the like horrible fact committed upon earth and all for base gain it was plotted by the devill against the eternall son of God and acted by Judas his accursed instrument against his most gracious Lord and Master his heart was so set upon covetousnesse that he lost his soul for the gain of a little mony What did Judas now gâ— by his bargain What gain did he make by exchanging his soul with the devill for money this was his gain the horrour of a guilty conscience because he betrayed innocent bloud a reprobate minde that could not repent and the fearfull terrours of desperation which made him hang himself Consider therefore how far earthly minded men will indanger their souls for the wealth of this world It is true which Paul saith k 1 Tim. 6. 10. that covetousnesse is the root of all evill not in regard of the things coveted for in themselves they are the blessings of God which he hath given us and hath appointed them to be used to his glory but in regard of the immoderate desire of them the unlawfull meanes that is commonly used to get them and the wrong end for which they are so eagerly desired but chiefly because they steal away their hearts from God for they set their hearts upon them and prize them above heavenly riches they stick not to get them by oppression or fraud and they covet them to satisfie their own lusts and not to honour God with them they do not think that the guilt of their covetousnesse cleaveth close to their souls and that there is a sting in their gettings which will sting their souls to death as it did Judas God doth allow us to get gain by honest meanes in our lawfull callings that he may be honoured thereby that we may live comfortably to do him service and maintain in the charge that God hath given us and also to be able to succour and relieve the poor But if we covet riches for any end that is dishonourable to God or get them by any unlawfull meanes l 1 Tim. 1. 19. we do then make shipwrack of faith and a good conscience we trust in our wealth and not in God and thus we do voluntarily suffer our covetous desires to tyrannize over us untill they bring us to perdition How happy then is that heart which is not affected to it how peaceable is that conscience which is not infected with it and how comfortable will our lives be to us if we can rest content with that portion which God hath given us by our industry in our honest callings we shall live without carking care which otherwise in time will eat out our spirits and consume our bodies we shall sleep without trouble of minde and though we possesse but little yet we shall injoy the blessing of God with it which will make that little far better to us than to possesse much and not to have his blessing therewith Also many rich men have great store of wealth and yet they injoy but litle of it because they have not an heart to use it but they hide it as in a napkin like that unprofitable servant in the Gospel so that God hath no glory themselves have no content and others have no good by their great wealth If we bring Peter and Judas face to face the one will appear more beautifull and the other more deformed and we shall the better discern the faithfulnesse and piety of the one and the infidelity and wickednesse of the other the zeal of Peter to his beloved Lord and Master and the damnable treachery of Judas against him the one sought to save his Masters life the other to destroy it though both of them were brought up in the same school When vertue is set opposite to vice vertue will shine forth the more clearly and vice will be the more ugly Pilate gave the Jewes their choice of Jesus or of Barrabas but they chose Barrabas the murtherer and rejected JESUS whom they could no way convince of any crime which made their hatred and malice against Christ the more odious and detestable to all posterity Look now with the eye of admiration upon thy gracious and blessed Saviour how willing he was to drink that cup of trembling which his Father gave him whereof he had a taste immediatly before which put him into such an Agony that his soul was heavy even to the death and his sweat was like drops of blood but now he must drink the dregs of it for us and in our stead for he knew that we were not able to bear it Christ knew that Judas would seek him that night in the garden to betray him and that he would bring a band of souldiers to apprehend him and yet Christ would not absent himself to avoid it neither would he
and sought opportunitie to betray him unto them Then he stirred up the chief Preists and Elders against him who out of malice and envie did persecute him and falslie accuse him before Herod and Pilate because the people did so much resort unto him Pilate condemned him out of fear and flattery to keep his grace and favour with Caesar and to please the people for he thought he did it for Caesars honour The Souldiers crucified him for a reward and to make a spoil of his garments Thus they are all the devils instruments to put the immaculate Lamb of God to a most shameful and cruel death for their own wicked ends But God did over-rule them all by his gracious and wise providence and made all their purposes and actions to serve for the furthering of his most loving and merciful end which was decreed from eternitie From hence we may draw sweet meditations for our comfort upon the power and goodness of God who can and will over-rule the power of the devil and of all wicked men and will so dispose of all their plots and devices which they intend for the hurt of his servants that they shall all serve for his own glorie and for their good he can frustrate their wicked intentions and can bring about his own end to effect his own work by them God hath this provident care of his people that whatsoever their enemies do maliciously intend or devise against them shall be brought to nought or else he will make it serve for their advantage and gain Though our enemies be as strong as c 1 Sam. â—â— Goliah was and though we are as unfit to encounter with them as David was to fight with that great Gyant yet if we put our confidence in God as David did and keep close unto him by faith in Christ he will direct a stone to beat out their brains And though they be as cunning and as subtile d 2 Sam 17 as Achitophel was yet God can confound them in their own craft and policy Mark now and consider it well how God in justice did revenge the treachery and cruelty that was used in betraying and in murthering of his dear and onely Son and how he brought their wickednesse upon their own heads for Judas was given up to a reprobate minde e Mat. 27 5 and immediatly after he hanged himself God did severely punish the whole nation of the Jews for this most horrible fact and laid the innocent blood of his Son upon them and upon their posterity which doth stil rest upon them because they did wilfully without cause and out of malice shed it Pilate also was soon after cast out of Caesar's favour and banished into France and the Devil was hereby quite vanquished and overcome so that now he hath no power to hurt the meanest of Gods Saints Thus will the Lord deal with all those that have their hands stained with the blood of his Anointed ones and with all such as are Actors in any wicked Design They may hide their counsels in the dark yet nothing can be hidden from God for he hath an All-seeing eye to discover what they go about and he will bring the evill of their doings upon themselves or upon their children Wherefore have thou no hand in the blood of Gods servants and partake not with the wicked in their evill designes for the guilt of their sins will cleave to thee and God will not suffer it to go unpunished for if thou art partaker of other mens sins thou shalt also partake with them in their punishment Therefore f Eph. 5. 6 7. Paul adviseth the Ephesians not to be partakers with wicked men because the wrath of God cometh upon the children of disobedience for their sins God calleth his people out of Babylon saying g 1 Rev. 18. 4 Come out of her my people that ye be not partakers of her sins and that ye receive not of her plagues But it is a blessed thing to partake with the children of God in his holy Ordinances in all holy duties h 2 Cor. 1. 5 7. and in the sufferings of Christ Because we shall also partake with them in the consolation that is by Christ Thus the servants of God should mutually joyn together in the worship and service of God that they may also mutually have the benefit and comfort of those services here and also partake together with them of the glory that afterwards shall be revealed Of the penitent Thief NOw we come to consider that Christ was crucified between two thieves according to this of the Prophet a Isa 53. 12 He was numbered with the transgressors one of them had no remorse of conscience nor grief of heart for his offences but began to rail upon Christ to revile him and blasphemously to taunt him saying b Luk. 23. 39. If thou art Christ save thy self and us But the other was touched by the holy Ghost with a godly sorrow and a relenting heart for his sins and did freely confesse that they two did justly and deservedly suffer death for their offences but he did justifie our beloved Saviour for his blameless innocency and he rebuked his fellow saying Fearest thou not God seeing thou art in the same condemnation Then he turned to Christ to implore his mercy and made this short and sweet Prayer to him Lord remember me when thou shalt come into thy Kingdom To whom Christ immediatly gave this gracious Answer Verily I say unto thee This day shalt thou be with me in Paradise Surely these gracious words of Christ did much mitigate and asswage the sorrowes of his perplexed minde and much eased the bitternesse of his torments and this blessed Promise gave him good assurance that after his present sufferings and pains he should injoy rhe blessed society of Christ in the heavenly paradise For as Faith wrought in his heart a true contrition to Repentance and opened his mouth to make a good confession of his sins and to vindicate the innocency of Christ from the aspersions of his fellow Malefactour and also to present his humble request unto Christ his Lord for some gracious rememberance of him so no doubt it sealed such an holy assurance of future happinesse to his sorrowfull soul and wounded conscience that he did stedfastly believe the promise and faithfully lookt for the performance of it whereby his fainting Spirits were much comforted and the cruell torturings of his body which he suffered were sanctified and sweetned to him Here set the Meditations of thy heart upon the free love and mercy of Christ to poor sinners he choseth whom he will and whom he will he refuseth his gifts of grace are free his love and favour is not necessitated to any c Gen. 25. 2â— There were twinnes in Rebâ—ccas wombe d Rom. 9. 13. God loved the one and he hated the other Two men may be in one bed God may take the one and he may leave the
the power of sin will be killed in us that by the sanctifying Grace of the holy Ghost we may be raised up to newnesse of life If we did seriously consider these things we should not keep at so farre a distance from Piety and vertue and we should not be such strangers to a Christian life and conversation but we would use all means to get into nearer society with Christ by true saving faith and by heavenly contemplation that the spirituall dew of his heavenly graces may distill into our hearts to sanctifie us throughout both in soul and in body that in Christ we may be made new creatures To this end we must endeavour to keep our faith still in action and continually to use it upon all occasions and in every condition of life for thereby we shall draw strength and power from Christ to carry us on through all temptations and tryalls and to support and comfort us in all sorrows and tribulations it will purifie our hearts from dead works and suffer no sin to continue with us without repentance to hinder the salvation of our souls This rare example of the goodnesse and mercy of Christ to this believing Thief may keep us from despair because g Ezech. 18 21 22. there is mercy for a sinfull soul if at any time he doth truly repent and turn to the Lord with a full intent and purpose of will to reform his evill it doth also teach us not to be secure or carelesse of our salvation for it is extreamly dangerous to loose any opportutunity of grace that God shall give us or to take so much liberty to sin as to forget to make our Peace with God in time for we must give an account at the last day of all that we have done in the flesh and our condition then wil be most miserable if our reckoning be not made perfect in the righteousnesse of Christ by faith while we live here upon earth and therefore it is the greatest punishment in this life to have no sense of our spirituall misery and not to fear or remember the dreadfull day of judgement Also this consideration should keep us from rash judgement and censuring of any mans condition though he be a notorious sinner for God can give him grace to repent when he pleaseth As this one example of the mercy of Christ to this penitent sinner may keep us from despair from security and from rash judging of others so let it keep us from presuming upon sin in hope of pardon we do wilfully delay our repentance from day unto day and so continue impenitent to the last part of our life because this man had all his sins forgiven even in a moment and was received to mercy at the last hour for God may justly deny us mercy if we refuse grace when the means is offered to us So likewise let it keep us from presuming upon repentance because it is not in our power to repent when we will This heavenly grace is the gift of God and it is the first fruits of faith which the holy Ghost will work in us if we are ready to yield obedience to his holy inspirations or to make the right use of such meanes as he is pleased to use to make us willing to seek unto him for it for if the Spirit of God doth not work it in us we can have no hope ever to obtain it Now consider the strength of faith that was in this poor sinner he gave the highest title of honour to Christ when he we was scornfully mocked and in a most contemptible condition to the eye of all men he did imbrace him and vindicate his honour when he was upon the crosse he did believe that heaven was his Kingdom though he were now reviled and despised of all men and that he had the disposing of all honours and preferments in that Kingdom which made him pray unto him Lord remember me when thou comest into thy Kingdome also his heart was touched with a sensible feeling of his sins he made a pious confession of them and therefore he did pray for mercy out of a true sense of his misery If we can shew the faith of this penitent Thief though our life hath been as vicious as his was and though we turn to Christ late as he did yet we may have good hope of the pardon of our sins and we may comfortably expect his felicity for Christ will return the like gracious answer to our Prayers and the like promise of future happinesse But what faith can we shew if we still dishonour Christ with our words and works how can we trust in him if we do not believe that all regall power both in heaven and in earth is given unto him And how can we hope for future blessednesse from him if we are not confident that he is the disposer of all the glorious mansions that are in heaven what godly sorrow have we for our sins if we still go on in a presumptuous way of sinning And what hope is there of true repentance if we still cherish foster our sins in our bosome if our faith and repentance be no better then thus Christ will not hear our Prayers nor grant our requests Wherefore let not the devill delude thee with security or presumption lest he brings thee to perdition for many have perished with the shadow of this deceitful hope Look well to the truth of thy faith that it be well grounded upon the true knowledge of Christ and of those excellencies that are in him that thou maist firmly rest upon him in all troublesome and dangerous times but chiefly for the redemption of thy soul Neglect not the means of grace and defer not thy repentance for God hateth such as upon confidence of repentance in their old age do presume to sin the moâ—e freely as if God did not know the deceit and hypocrisie that is in their hearts h Deut. 29. 19 20 If thou dost flatter thy self in thy wickednesse and doest blesse thy self in thy heart saying I shal have peace though I walk in the imagination of my heart to ad drankenes to thirst then know that the Lord will not spare thee but then the anger of the Lord and his jealousie shall smoke against thee and all the curses that are written in his book shal lye upon thee and the Lord shall blot out thy Name from under heaven Consider further how much this penitent sinner was humbled in the sense of his sins and of his unworthinesse and also how bountifull and good Christ was to him for he durst not presume to beg any inheritance in the Kingdom of Christ but onely some remembrance of him when he came into his Kingdome but Christ did grant him a present possession of his Kingdome Verily I say unto thee To day thou shalt be with me in Paradise This Paradise was the place of blessednesse where all the Saints of God shall be untill the generall
what a great punishment it is when the Ministers of God are removed from their places and the people fit in darknesse and left to ignorance and spirituall blindnesse or else to such teachers as cannot shew them the right way to heavenly happinesse But it is a punishment above all other when God will take away his Word and Gospel from a Nation or people because they despise it and will not learn instruction by it Christ thus threatneth the Church of Ephesus p Rev. 2. 5. Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen and repent and do the first works or else I will come unto thee quickly and I will remove thy candlestick out of his place except thou repent Darknesse of understanding was one of the curses which God threatned to bring upon his people if they would not obey his Law q Deut. 28. 28 26. The Lord shall smite thee with blindnesse and thou shalt grope at noon-dayes as the blinde gropeth in darknesse and thou shalt not prosper in thy wayes Among the sins of the Jews which the Prophet reckoneth up this was one r Isa 59. 7 9 10. that they made haste to shed innocent blood Therefore saith he is judgement far from us neither doth justice overtake us We wait for light but behold obscurity for brightnesse but we walk in darknesse We grope for the wall like the blinde and we grope as if we had no eyes We stumble at noonday as in the night we are in desolate places as dead men All this was truly verified in the Jews at this time when they shed the innocent blood of our Saviour Christ upon the Crosse It is therefore a fearfull judgement when God doth bereave us of the means of knowledge and understanding of his will Hear what the Lord threatneth by his Prophet Å¿ Amos 11 12. Behold the dayes come saith the Lord God that I will send a famine in the land not a famine of bread nor a thirst for water but of hearing the words of the Lord. And they shall wander from sea to sea and from the North even to the East they shall run to and fro to seek the Word of the Lord and shall not find it Miserable are the people that are in such a case for they have no means to come to the knowledge of God and of his Son Jesus Christ by whom they must be saved Now let us Meditate with faithfull hearts on the wonderfull goodnesse of God who hath continued still unto us the light of his Gospel and his Word of truth to be a Lanthorn to our feet and a light unto our paths and to guide us into the way of true peace and heavenly felicity whereas our sins have justly deserved that he should remove our Candlestick from us Let us also study all thankfulnesse to him for so great a blessing and labour to improve it to the glory of God and to the edification of our souls to eternall life t 1 Sam. 3. 1 In the dayes of the Judges untill Samuels time the Word of the Lord was precious there was no open vision Wherefore while we do injoy it we should highly prize it and imbrace it with pure affections as the means which God hath appointed for our salvation In the last place consider that as it was the good pleasure of God to humble his onely Son so low before he had finished the work of our redemption as that the Sun seemed to mourn at the sight of it so likewise God is sometimes pleased to bring his dearest servants from the highest degree of honour to the lowest condition of men for some end and purpose which he in his secret wisdom doth intend either for his own glory or for their good It may be our case to be brought from plenty to penury from pleasure to pain from health to sicknesse from credit and honour to shame and disgrace but we need not repine at Gods Providence herein for as he can advance his own glory by our condition how mean soever it be so he can and will sanctifie our condition to our comfort and for our good though it be among the lowest degrees of men if we do meekly submit to his will and pleasure We cannot be brought so low as our gracious Saviour was we cannot suffer so much of Gods fury as he did for he drank a full draught and the very dregs of the cup of trembling at Gods hand but we have a very small portion measured out to us and the bitternesse of it will soon be out of our tasté u Psal 30. 5. for the anger of Godendureth but a moment in his favour is life wéâ—ping may endure for a night but joy cometh in the morning Our cup of affliction is tempered and measured out by Christ according to our strength and it is sweetned with many comforts that we may willingly take it and be able to bear it Christ hath had full experience of our sorrowes and he will compassionate us in our miseries If we are oppressed under the crosse he will ease it in his good time if we are perplexed for our sins he will present our condition to his Father and the merit of his blood to procure our atonement with God that the bright beams of his grace and favour may again shine upon us If we do seriously meditate on these things we may faithfully believe that Christ the Sun of righteousness will at length come with healing in his wings and dispell the black cloud of afflictions which hath long overshadowed us Of the Death of our SAVIOUR CHRIST COnsider now with all pious devotion to what weaknesse both of spirit and body our dear and precious Saviour was brought when he was upon the Crosse for his blood was wasted his Spirits were spent the moisture of his body was dryed up and the time of his dissolution was now at hand Now was fulfilled that of the Prophet a Zech. 13. 7 Awake O sword against my shepherd and against the man that is my fellow saith the Lord of hosts smite the shepherd and the sheep shall be scattered When Christ was in this extremity of weaknesse a little before his death b Joh. 19. 28. he said I thirst by all which he did shew the truth of his humanity This thirst was not so much for wine or water to refresh his fainting spirits as it was to have our redemption finished that God might be glorified in the salvation of mankinde Then the barbarous people that had no humanity in them gave him Vinegar in a spunge to drink which they did out of malice to increase his pain and misery but the Lord did so order it that it was to fulfill this saying of the Psalmist c Psal 69. 21. They gave me also gall for my meat and in my thirst they gave me Vinegar to d Joh. 19. 30 drink When Christ had tasted it he said It is finished because all the
inheritance hereafter Fourthly when death comes near to us we have most need of the best comforts both for soul and body that we may the more strongly encounter with this terrible enemy in the dissolution of our souls from our bodies but Christ at this time had soure vinegar given him which could no way comfort him but rather aggravate his pains and sorrowes when he was every way in great extremity This doth fitly resemble the case of many of Gods dear servants for they are often troubled and perplexed with many fears doubtings temptations and evil sugestions of the devil when they are to enter into a single combate with death it self for then he will lay their sins before them with all the aggravations that may be and he will labour to hide the mercies of God in Christ from them that they might have no hope or comfort to support them in this great conflict which doth put them into trouble of minde grief of heart and anguish of spirit and it is more uncomfortable and unpleasing to their spirituall taste than any vinegar can be to the palate Then is the time when the Divell is most maliciously bent against them then doth he bestirre himself to trouble the Peace of their consciences to disquiet the tranquillity of their mindes and to keep them from the assurance of the love and favour of God to them in Christ that they should not comfortably resign up their souls unto God he will affright them with the fear of death with the greatnesse of their sins with the hypocrisie of their hearts with their infidelity and unbelief he will labour to keep the gracious promises of God from them or else to perswade them that they belong not unto them that so they should have no comfortable assurance of the pardon of their sins Also he will terrifie them with the fear of Gods justice and with the terrour of the dreadfull day of judgement if it were possible to drive them into despair But here is comfort for a poor sinner that it is thus assaulted by the Divel when he is near his departure out of this life or at any other time that Christ hath sanctified all these sorrowes and conflicts to him and he will confirm his faith and stablish his hope upon his true humiliation for his sins and then those fears and doubtings will vanish away for he knoweth that we are not able to resist such temptations and the weaknesse of our spirits and of body is such that we cannot withstand such strong assaults and therefore Christ will give most strength to our inward man when the outward man is most weak and he will most weaken the power of the Divell when his malice is strongest to do us hurt And though we may be dangerously foyled in these spirituall combates yet Christ will uphold our faith he will give us spirituall consolation and will speak peace to our souls and consciences when through weaknesse of body we cannot expresse the joy and comfort of it Fifthly before we can willingly leave this world we must be well perswaded that we shall injoy a better habitation in the world to come which holy perswasion that we may have we must seriously consider how we have done the works which God hath appointed us how we have improved the talent that he hath lent us how we have glorified God in our calling and what good we have done to our neighbour according to the means and ability that God hath given us for we must give an account of all these things before the Tribunall Seat of God and we shall be judged according to our works Wherefore if we can truly say that we have done Gods works to the best of our power with an upright heart and that we have well improved our time and our talent to the glory of God then we may say with Christ It is finished and with Paul t 2 Tim. 7. 8 I have finished my course and have kept the faith henceforth is laid up for me a Crown of Righteousnesse which the Lord the righteous Judge shall give me at that day and not to me onely but unto all them also that love his appearing And though our work hath been very imperfectly done by us yet Christ our Saviour will make it perfect by that which he hath done for us in our nature and God will accept it for his sake then we shall cheerfully resign up our souls to God at the hour of our dissolution Sixthly Christ doth here teach us to commend our souls into the hands of God we received them immediatly from God and therefore we ought to resign them up again unto him he breathed into us the breath of life which is our chiefest and most precious Jewell and therefore we ought to keep it holy and undefiled for him that when he is pleased to call for it we may be sure to deliver it up to himself for the Divell will be ready watching for it as soon as it is separated from the body and none can keep it from him but onely God Wherefore we must keep our souls so pure and clean that God may accept them and take them into his charge for if we present unto him a filthy soul polluted with the guilt of sin we have no ground to believe that God will take care of it and keep it unto the general resurrection Wherefore we should study and labour to keep our souls clean from sin by washing them dayly in the blood of Christ by faith if they be stained with the sins of the day we should thus cleanse them at night before we sleep and if they are defiled with the pollutions of the night â— we must not forget to wash them with the teares sighes and groanes that flow from a sorrowfull and contrite heart in the morning before we set about our necessary occasions in our calling that we may comfortably believe that God will blesse and prosper our handy work If this be our dayly and constant practise the blessing of God will go along with us in all our actions sin cannot then cleave to our souls to make death fearfull to us death cannot then come suddenly upon us neither will the remembrance of it be terrible but we shall cheerfully commend our souls to God because we may confidently believe that he will keep them in his heavenly mansions untill they shall be again united to our bodies with an unseparable union and made glorious bodies fit to live and reign with Christ for ever But naturall men know not the worth of their souls nor the great price wherewith they are redeemed if they belong unto Christ they suppose that the soul cometh from a Principle of nature as the body doth whereas it is an immortall spirit which proceedeth not from any mortall principle but is breathed into us by the holy Ghost as soon as the body is framed in the wombe and made capable to receive this breath of
which was determined by all the three Persons in the holy Trinity before the world was he laid aside his Glory and humbled himself for that great Work which was decreed in the secret Counsel of God and to be wrought at his appointed time The first degree of Christs Humiliation was that he gave away the manifestation of glory of his Deity which he had with the Father in heaven which was his due from his first incarnation the bright beams whereof were clouded with his humanity for he took upon himself our flesh and was cloathed with our weak and frail nature and was subject to such humane passions and infirmities as might be without sin This was a great degree of Humiliation for the eternall King of glory to leave his glorious mansions in heaven and to come down and be with us men here upon earth and to take up his habitation in an earthly tabernacle which was subject to hunger thirst and heat and cold to pain torment and death it self The second Degree of his Humiliation was that he took upon himself the guilt of our sins and did undertake to fulfill the whole righteousnesse of the Law for us and to satisfie the justice of God for all the sins of his Elect not that his humane nature was polluted or stained with any sin For the holy Ghost did so sanctifie the Virgins wombe that he was conceived and born without Originall sin and he lived without any actuall transgression but our sins were imputed to him and therefore as the Apostle saith a Gal. 3. 13 He was made a curse for us Also b Tit. 2. 14. Christ gave himself for us that he might redeem us from all iniquity and purifie unto himself a peculiar people zealous of good works He gave his body and all the parts of it to the persecutors tormentors he gave his blood to be spilt and his life for the redemption of man he gave his soul to suffer anguish and sorrow c â—sa 53. 10. and to be aâ— of fering for sin also in some sort he gave his Deity by suffering most horrible blasphemies that were cast upon him d Acts 20. 28. and God purchased to himself a Church with his own blood This was a very low abasement of Christ when he left all his glory in heaven and came down to live here upon earth not in the nature of Angels but he cloathed himself with our flesh which was all stained and defiled with the guilt of our sins e Isa 53. 6. for God laid on him the iniquity of us all The third degreee of Christs Humiliation was that he was content with a mean condition of life here upon earth his birth and education was very mean he was exposed to wants and necessities to perils and dangers even from his infancy and after he began his Ministry he had no abiding place f Mat. 8. 20. he had not where to lay his head and he did the office of a servant to his own Disciple g John 13. 5 when he washed their feet for as the Apostle saith h Phâ—l 2. 7. He made himself of nâ— reputation and took upon him the form of a servant Christ continually travelled from place to place to teach the people to heal the sick to cleanse the lepers and to cast out Devils he was often wearied often hungry and often thirsty Thus was his whole life full of sorrowes and full of afflictions and thus low did the eternall Son of God humble and abase himself to advance us and to perfect the work of our redemption Lastly in his passion he was made a scorn to the most abject of all the people and a derision both to Jew and Gentile he suffered both in his soul and in his body as much anguish pain and torment as the power of the divell and the malice of wicked men was able to inflict upon him And as if all this was not sufficient to humble him enough God himself did fiercely assault him for he kept all comfort from him when he was in his greatest extremity and his wrath went along with all his other sufferings When Christ had suffered to the full so much as the justice of God required in satisfaction for all our sins and that the work of our Redemption was perfectly finished then he commended his soul unto God and dyed upon the Crosse according to this of the Apostle i Phil. 2 8. He humbled himself and became obedient unto death even the death of the crosse this kinde of death was most painfull shamefull and accursed Here is a short view of the humiliation of Christ for our weak understandings cannot reach to the depth of that which Christ suffered for us much lesse can we reach to the honour and dignity of his Person in his Divine nature which doth make his sufferings and his Humiliation far the greater If we do seriously meditate upon it with pious affections it will teach us to adore his sacred Majesty with reverence and godly fear to love him with a perfect love to serve and obey him with a pure and upright heart and to suffer any thing for his sake with a cheerfull minde Also if we have gained any grace by the death and passion of Christ it will teach us meeknesse of spirit and humility of minde though we have places of preheminence and authority above other men If God shall bring us down from an high degree to a mean condition of life we shall bear it contentedly because God is the sole disposer of all things and he can raise us to an higher degree if he pleaseth If what we have be too little for us and that we can improve more to the best advantage of Gods glory he will then in his good time bestow more upon us If our life be full of troubles and sorrowes the Humiliation of Christ will teach us k 1 Pet. 5. 6 7 to humble our selves under the mighty hand of God that he may exalt us in due time We may safely cast our care upon him for he careth for us l Psal 18. 35 His right hand will hold us up m Psal 17. 5 He will hold up our goings in his paths that our footsteps slip not n Cant. 2. 6. Christ also will put his left hand under our heads and with his right hand he will imbrace us Wherefore if we have this gracious humility of spirit it will produce these and many more blessed fruits to give us comfort in a troublesome and painfull life And when death comes it will be favourable to a meek and humble spirit and well-come to a good conscience if we be thus qualified it will bring us to our graves in peace and then we shall have a joyfull and a blessed resurrection Christ did willingly humble himself to the death for us why should we be unwilling to resign up our life unto him do we know no other happinesse or
will still reign in us though we cannot actually commit sin So likewise if we do spiritually feed upon the body and blood of Christ at the Lords Table we do then seal this Covenant of grace to our souls and we shall finde the comfort of all those promises that are contained in it This spiritual food was the fruit that the Spouse did feed upon h Cant. 2. 3. which was so sweet to her taste and we shall also finde the same sweetnesse in that blessed fruit But if we come to that holy Supper with mindes full of worldly cares or sinfull lusts and with hearts full of hypocrisie and unbelief we do eat and drink damnation to our selves We need not now envy at the prosperity of ungodly men their wealth is their snare to bring them into the paths of perdition their gain is their losse their pleasure will be their pain and their sweetnesse will be bitterness to them in the end so that what gain soever they make of this world if they do not also gain Christ with it they will finde no Advantage nor true comfort by it It is a shame for rich men and a dishonour for such as are in eminent places of authority if they are not truly vertuous and religious This heavenly gain is peculiar onely to the Children of God which they have onely by Christ and they seek it no where but of him Our Advantage and Gain by CHRIST in Death AS Christ is our spirituall gain in this life so he is no lesse our advantage and Gain in our death for he hath so conquered death that it shall neither sting us nor hurt us though we must at Gods appointed time yield and submit unto it Death of it self is a terrible enemy and destructive to our whole nature and it is the greatest part of the curse for the breach of the Law but Christ hath made it our friend and hath taken the curse from it so that if we live an holy and pious life in Christ we shall also dye a comfortable and a Christian death in him a Rom. 5. 12 By the fall of Adam sin entered into the world and death by sin and so death passed upon all men for that all have sinned b Heb. 9. 2â— Therefore it is appointed unto all men once to dye and after this is the judgement Thus saith the Psalmist c Psal 89. 48 What man is be that liveth and shall not see death Shall he deliver his soul from the hand of the grave Paul saith d 2 Cor. 4. 7 that our bodies are but earthen vessels which are soon broken or e 2 Cor. 5. 1. earthly houses which are soon dissolved The wise man hath no priviledge from death more than the fool one event happeneth to them both f Eccl. 2. 14 16 How dyeth the wise man As the fool saith the Preacher g Eccl. 3. 20 All go unto one place both high and low rich and poor all are of the dust and all turn to dust again For we must be conformed to Christ in his death if we desire to be conformed to him in his resurrection This is the way that every man must go before he can h Rom. 3. 23. come to eternall life for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God i Rom 6. 23 and the wages of sin is death If it be so that none can escape the stroke of death but that it will seize upon all flesh with an unresistible power we ought then to be alwayes well prepared that death may not come suddenly upon us to take us away in our sins before we have made our peace with God by faith in Christ and before we have got a modest and sober assurance of the pardon of our sins by true repentance that we may willingly part with this world and comfortably resign up our souls to God in full hope that we shall injoy a better life hereafters for evermore and this preparation for Death is onely by Christ Consider now that Christ will fit and prepare us for Death and will also fit a Death for us which shall make most for the glory of God and be most advantagious to us and he will so sanctifie it to us that our gain thereby shall be far greater than our loss If we dye in the Lord or for the Lord death may part our souls from our bodies but it cannot part our souls from Christ the soul may be parted for a time from a crazy diseased and corruptible body which is but an earthly Tabernacle but we shall receive the same bodies again in full strength in perfect beauty and incorruptible free from aches or diseases from decay or corruption Death may take our souls out of a world of miseries and calamities of sorrowes troubles and vexations but it will presently convey them into an haven of rest and into an heaven of happinesse where there is no labour nor toil no troubles nor sorrow but perfect peace and fulnesse of joy for ever and our bodies shall be raised up to injoy the same blessednesse with our souls k 2 Cor. 5. 1. Death may dissolve the earthly house of our tabernacle but we have a building of God an house not made with hands eternall in the heavens What if we lose our lands and possessions wherunto we are but tenants at will l â— Pet. 1. 3 4 We have a lively hope by Christ to injoy an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that fadeth not away reserved in heaven for us Death may take us from our earthly friends but it will bring us into the society of the glorious Angels and blessed Saints in heaven and to be wedded to Christ our Beloved for ever to whom in this life we are but espoused Consider in the next place for our further comfort that we have this Advantage by Christ above other men when we are to dye m 1 Cor. 15. 55 56. that death hath nothing to hurt us sin hath no power to condemn us and therefore death cannot binde us over unto judgement Thus saith the Lord by his Prophet n Isa 42 â—5 I even I am he that blotteth out thy transgressions for mine own sake and will not remember thy sins How can death then be any way hurtful to us As Christ hath taken away the guilt of our sins so he will also fasten all our good works and pious duties to our souls which will go with us to the grave o Rev. 14. 13 and will follow us to the day of judgement to be had in remembrance then before God This is a blessed Advantage that we have by Christ in death above other men that have no interest in Christ For their evil works cleave so close to their souls that they will follow them unto judgement to increase their torments in their condemnation Thus saith Paul p 1 Tim. 5. 24. Some mens sins are open before hand
a peculiar people zealous of good works This purification Christ worketh in us ministerially by the Preaching of his Word for thus saith Paul Eph. 5. 25 26. Christ loved the Church and gave himself for it that he might sanctifie and cleanse it with the washing of water by the Word Also he doth wash and cleanse us Sacramentally from our sins by Baptisme a Gal. 3. 27. For if we have been baptized into Christ we have put on Christ and then we are cloathed with his righteousness and with his holiness which are the garments of a spirituall life for we must be holy as well as just b Heb 12. 14 without which no man shall see the Lord. So likewise c Acts 15. 9 faith doth instrumentally purifie our hearts as it hath relation to Christ But Christ doth most effectually purifie our hearts from sin and from uncleannesse by the holy Ghost and by him doth convey this spiritual life of grace into us without whose gracious concurrence no other means can be effectuall to us unto salvation Thus doth Christ bring us to a spirituall life that our conversation may be holy and blamelesse in the sight of God d Isa 35. 8 9 The Prophet speaketh of a way of holinesse which is not for the lyon or for any ravenous beast but for the Redeemed of the Lord they onely shall walk there This is the priviledge onely of those e Heb 9. 14. whose consciences are purged in the blood of Christ from dead works to serve the living God If Christ doth not thus wash and purifie us we have no part in him f John 13. 8 9. as he said unto Peter when he refused to let him wash his feet When we are thus cleansed from our sins and have this spiritual life by grace in Christ wrought in us then we are a peculiar people to him separate from sinners and from the vanities of this world and wholely devoted to serve him then we shall with Peter desire more washing and cleansing Lord not my feet onely but my head and my hands and then we shall have an holy zeal to do such works as God hath commanded and we shall do them by faith in Christ and to the honour and glory of God that the truth of our sanctification may appear Thirdly Christ is the exemplary cause of our spiritual life for he hath recorded his own life in the Gospel g 1 Pet. 2. 21 to be a perfect pattern of holinesse to us and an example thereby to learn how to follow his steps If we desire to live according to the rule of Christs life we must be holy and righteous in all our wayes humble and lowly toward all men meek and patient in our sufferings sober and temperate in all things charitable to the poor doing good to all frequent and fervent in Prayer and alwayes seeking the glory of God This was Christs whole life and thus ought we to regulate our lives that the fruits of a spirituall life may shine forth in the integrity of our conversation Christ did shew the purity of his Ministery by the holinesse of his life and what he did Preach to others he did practise himself h Mat. 11. 29. Learn of me saith he for I am meek and lowly in heart Though we cannot attain to perfection of holinesse in this life i Phil. 3. 14. yet we must presse towards the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus But this is the work of grace and not of nature to follow Christ in his steps and the servants of God have their graces according to their measure for some have more some have lesse yet all have grace sufficient to fit them for the kingdom of heaven and according to their measure of grace so is the purity of their lives and conversations Abraham excelled all others in Faith and therefore k Rom. 4. 11 he is called the Father of all them that believe Moses excelled all men in meeknesse for the holy Ghost giveth this Testimony of him l Num. 12. 3 that he was very meek above all the men that were upon the face of the earth Job was renowned for his patience Thus saith James of him m Jam. 5. 15 Ye have heard of the patience of Job and have seen the end of the Lord. Holy David Daniel and others excelled in Prayer and devout Meditations These and all other the servants of God had their severall graces from Christ and the streams of his fulnesse do still plentifully flow down to all that belong to the election of grace for the sanctification of their lives Lastly Christ is the finall cause of our spiritual life which is that God may be glorified thereby to this end we were born to this end should tend all our words and actions and Christ took upon him our nature that God might be glorified by our salvation Christ did alwayes seek the glory of God both in his Ministery and in his miracles both in his life and at his death Thus he saith of his Ministery n John 12. 49 50. I have not spoken of my self but the Father which sent me he gave me a commandement what I should say and what I should speak whatsoever therefore I speak evâ—n as the Father said unto me so I speak Thus also Christ glorified God by his Miracles o Joh. 5. 19 36. for he ascribeth the cure of the impotent man at the pool of Bethesda to his heavenly Father that he might have the glory of it because he sent him to finish all those works which he did God is very jealous of his glory p Isa 48. 11 12. he will not have his great Name to he polluted and he will not give his glory to another His hand hath laid the foundation of the earth and his right hand hath spanned the heavens when he calleth unto them they stand up together To what end did God make the great Fabrick of the Heavens and the earth but for his own glory Why doth God execute his justice upon the wicked but to get himself honour by their destruction q Exod. 14. 17. as he did upon Pharaoh and his host when he drowned them in the red sea Why doth God bestow his mercies and his blessings upon his servants but to be honoured for and by them And why doth Christ put into us a spiritual life but to honour and glorifie God thereby r Lu. 5. 25. If the man that Christ cured of the palsie glorified God for his cure then much more ought we so to do because Christ hath cured us of all our spirituall diseases Å¿ Lu. 18. If the man that received his sight followed Jesus glorifying God then ought we to follow Christ and to glorifie God for that spirituall light which he hath put into our understanding and for that spiritual life which he hath put into our souls
blessed Saviour to us that he hath not onely given us the shield of faith for our defence against these spiritual enemies y Eph. 6. but hath also furnished us with the whole armour of God which we must put on and buckle close to us with the girdle of verity apprehended by faith that we may be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might and be able to stand against the wiles of the devill For we wrestle not against flesh and bloud but against principalities and powers against the rulers of the darknesse of this world and against spiritual wickedness in high places Also Christ hath given us the wisdom of his Spirit so to use every piece of this spiritual armour that neither by force nor by fraud the devill shall be able to hurt us or to hinder the salvation of our soules For Christ knew how violently we should be assaulted and the weaknesse of our own strength to resist and how cunningly our enemies would plot to undermine us and therefore we should need this spiritual armour to defend our selves and to offend our adversaries and likewise his Spirit of wisdome and his almighty power to use that armour as we ought Fifthly Faith doth much support and comfort us in all the sorrows and troubles of this life for so long as we live in the flesh we are subject to many tribulations and extremities which we cannot patiently bear without the help of faith Princes have their cares the great men of the world are not free from troubles there is no condition of life that can challenge a priviledge from worldly incumbrances and miseries against all which faith doth comfort the servants of God in his promises to uphold them from sinking under their afflictions by that vertue and power which they draw thereby from the sufferings of Christ Wherefore if we doe confide in the promises of God and rest upom them by faith as made unto us so that we can wait without murmuring Gods own time for the performance of them they will then sweeten our sorrows ease us in our troubles comfort us in the afflictions of our soules and give us an assured hope of deliverance out of our distresses The good Kings of Juda and the valient men of Israel obtained many great victories beyond humane expectation because they believed and rested upon the word of promise which they had from the Lord. z Josh 11. 6 8. When Joshua saw divers Kings come against him he was afraid but God did strengthen him with the promise of victory which he rested upon and God made his word good unto him a Judg. 4. 7. Baruch had the like promise against Sisera which the Lord did faithfully perform b 1 King 20 Ahab had two great victories over the Syrians though he were a wicked King because he rested upon the promise of God c 1 Chron. 14. 10. David overcame the Philistims because he believed the word of God d 1 Sam. 30. 8. Also he recovered all the spoil that the Amalekites had taken out of Ziglag because he trusted to the word of promise which he had from God David did find by manifold experience how faithful God was in the performance of his promises which made him so much delight in the Word of God and so often to meditate on his promises which did exceedingly strengthen him in all his afflictions and troubles e Psa 34. 19 Many are the afflictions of the righteous but the Lord delivereth him out of them all f Psa 50. 15 Call upon me in the day of trouble I will deliver thee and thou shalt glorifie me g Psa 42. 11 Why art thou cast down O my soul and why art thou disquieted within me hope thou in God for I shall yet praise him who is the health of my countenance and my God Thus may a poor soul cheer up his drouping spirits when his mind is perplexed or when troubles and sorrows compasse him about on every side if he hath a word of promise from God to rest upon When God doth visit us with afflictions he hath then some work to doe in us for his own glory and for our good and we must then make use of our faith which will help us much to joyn with him in his own work because he intendeth our good thereby and then he will the sooner remove his rod of correction from us We may understand what Gods purpose is when his rod is upon us if we mark and observe in what manner he doth visit us and also if we doe truly examine our steps how we walk before God from day to day for then we shall discover what good we have omitted and what evill we have committed and we shall find some sweet motions of his Sprit to direct us what we ought to doe for the more speedy effecting of his work in us If our conscience doth tell us of some particular sinnes that have provoked God against us then he will punish us according to the nature of those sins If we are too much addicted to the world he will visit us with crosses losses and troubles in our estate if we are in danger of spiritual pride he will pull us down with a thorn in the flesh or send a Messenger of Satan to buffet us h 2 Cor. 1â— 7. as he did Paul If we are too fond and indulgent to our children he will either take them away or visit us with sorrowes and grief of heart in them as it was with David If we have any darling sin as Sampson had his Dalilah God will make that very sin to be bitternesse to us in the end if by faith in Christ we have not a sweeter taste of the love and goodnesse of God to us If God seeth us secure or presuming upon our own strength he will withdraw his assisting grace and suffer us to fall into many temptations and into grosse sins as he did Peter to make us more watchful over our wayes and to depend more upon him Thus we may find what God intendeth when we are under his visitation for then God calls for true humiliation and repentance for that very sin which he hath discovered to us and a true turning from it unto God with a faithful indeavour to better obedience and then he will forgive our sin and heal our disease by faith in the bloud of Christ But if our conscience doth clear us and yet Gods visitation is upon us it is then to exercise us under the crosse to be made conformable unto Christ our head in his sufferings or to try our faith our patience our hope and affiance in God and what constancy we have to continue faithful to the end though God should delay to remove the crosse from us all which do tend to the glory of God and to our own good i John 9. 3 The man in the Gospel was blind from his birth and yet neither he
nor his parents had sinned but it was that the works of God should be made manifest in him Lastly God doth sometimes visit us with afflictions to stir us up to more frequency and fervency of prayer untill we are delivered out of our troubles Howsoever or to what end soever God doth visit us our faith in Christ will stand us in great stead to support us in our sufferings and tryals and to make the right use of all Gods dealings with us that our soules may receive profit and comfort thereby If we did live in sad and mournful times when we could scarcely see any thing but oppression injustice rapine and wrong k Ps 82. 2 3 when the Judges judge unjustly as the Psalmist saith and accept the persons of the wicked and doe not defend the poor and fatherlesse nor doe justice to the afflicted and needy when the Church of God is under affliction and torn in pieces by persecutors and spoilers with sects and scismes and the sincere Word of God corrupted with humane inventions or else troden down by the authority of unjust men then were the time to live by faith and to strengthen our faith with firm hope that God will arise as the same Psalmist saith and judge the earth and will send deliverance to his Church in his good time and that he will awake as a Gyant out of sleep to avenge the desolations thereof and the oppressions of his people In the mean time we should remember those that suffer in our prayers and comfort our selves with faith in the promises of God waiting with patience for the salvation of God when he will visit his people in mercy and remember what his Church hath suffered and by whom to render to every man according to his works Among many calamities that God doth sometimes bring upon a nation or a people to humble them for their sinnes to rouse them up out of security to pull down their pride and to break their stubborn hearts this is one of the greatest when he doth take away the pillars of his Church and doth suffer it to be underpropt with weak meanes for though it may stand for some short time yet it cannot continue long for if the winds doe blow or the billows of the sea rise against it they will shake it and much indanger the fall of it This was Davids request unto God in the like case l Psal 12. 1. Help Lord for the godly man ceaseth for the faithfull fall from among the children of men When we see these things come to passe we had need cry mightily to the God of our salvation for his help for they are fore-runners of great calamities But we trust that God will not bring such visitations upon us but that he will pitty us as a father pittieth his child upon his submission to his will though by reason of our sinnes and rebellions against his sacred Majesty we have deserved no pity Now then if these things be well considered thou wilt find that whatsoever thy condition of life be that sorrows and troubles will daily attend thee that the corruptions of thy nature will break out upon thee to make thee fail of thy duty to God to make thee yeild to sinful motions and to fall sometimes into grosse sinnes and so to loose the sense of Gods grace and favour which doth more perplex the soul of a true Christian than to suffer the greatest miseries but here is thy comfort that if thou hast faith in Christ thou wilt rest upon him for he will support thee in all thy sorrows he will free thee from all thy sinnes and will procure thy pardon upon thy true repentance and he will bring thee again into the favour of God by the merit of his bloud Nothing can make thee so unhappy and so comfortlesse but that true faith well grounded upon Christ and upon the promises of God will take away the apprehension of thy unhappinesse and will give thee true consolation in the assurance of the love and favour of God to thee in Christ Sixtly Faith will give us comfort in all the pious actions of our life for by our union with Christ God will accept for his sake both of our persons and of our works whether they be works of piety to God or works of charity to our neighbour That our works may be such as God requireth first the Word of God must be our rule to teach us to frame our actions according to the will of God and not according to the conceit of our own fancie Secondly Our works must be such as come within the compasse of our calling either publick or private otherwise we have no ground to believe that God will accept them m â— Sam. 6. 7 Vzzah was stricken dead for staying the Ark when it was shaken in the cart because he had no calling for it God requireth that we should teach instruct and admonish our children and servants in the wayes of godlinesse but if we presume to execute the office and function of the Minister without a lawfull calling thereunto God may set his mark upon us for our presumption n 2 Chro. 26. as he did upon King Vzziah for going in to the Temple of the LORD to burn incense upon the Altar which pertained not unto him to do Thirdly we must take the time and opportunity that God gives us for any good action and not to put it off with delayes for that is the time which he will accept God hath set a part one day in seven for his peculiar service and for good works which is the Lords Day and that day must be wholely sanctified to him Fourthly our Adoption by Faith in Christ will strongly move us to perform good works and holy duties out of a filiall love to God and not out of a slavish fear to do them willingly in obedience to Gods command and not upon constraint also with an holy zeal and not with a blinde devotion o Acts 17. 24. like the Athenians who worshipped an unknown God p 1 Chro. 18. 9. David did counsel his son Solomon to worship God with a willing minde for God accepteth free-will offerings But if we are forced to the service of God like slaves for fear of punishment our service will not be well accepted Fifthly Faith will make us do all our religious duties with chearful hearts and pure affections to the glory of God q Psal 35. 15. for the Lord considereth all our works Thus God saith by Solomon r Prov. 23. 26. My son give me thy heart And thus saith the Apostle Å¿ 2 Cor. 9. 7. God loveth a chearfull giver Lastly Faith will make us constant in well-doing which will crown all our good actions with gracious acceptation so that we have respect t Psal 119. 6. as holy David had to all Gods Commandements then if we do our best endeavour in Gods service though we fail of our