Psal 139.12 13. and hidden lusts A man that made a work can easily espie the least fault that another makes in it so God can see all the disorders that Satan and thy wicked heart hath wrought in thee and this must make thee walke in feare of offending such a God and with a resolution to doe all things to the honour of him that made thee Every man that makes a thing doth desire to have the comfort and credit of it much more doth God who made man for himselfe Prov. 16.4 as well as all things else Vse Therefore Whether thou eate or drink 1 Cor. 10.31 or what ever thou doe doe all to the glory of thy God Doe to his glory in thought word and deed do to his glory in disposing thy selfe in all the occurrences of this life Thou mayst make other comfortable reflexions upon thy soule from this point if thou weigh the Texts in the margine Psal 149.2 Psal 119.73 Psal 100.1 2 3. Job 30.13.15 but I leave them to thy own meditations as God shall quicken thy heart with a love to the good word of God Tell me next 2. Q. Who Redeemed thee A. Jesus Christ Mark my good child Christ Redeemed us 1 Tim. 2.6 It is Christ that gave himselfe a ransome for us even the ransome of his blood by which he hath redeemed us out of all the world Apoc. 5.9 To redeeme is to buy thee again when thou wert lost in thy enemies hands Thou wert lost by the sinne of Adam As thou seest when a Carp is taken by a Fishers hooke or net and dieth thousands of spawnes in his belly are caught and die with him so was it with thee and all mankind We were all in that one man in his first transgression Therefore Blessed Paul saith Rom. 5.12 14. By one man sinne entered into the world and death by sinne and passed upon all men even over those that had not sinned after the similitude of Adams transgression for that all have sinned When thou wast in this cursed condition with all mankind Christ came and bought thee again Joh. 10.11 by laying down his life for thee Vse Remember this and make such use of it as Paul would have the Corinthians Ye are not your own 1 Cor. 6.19 20. for ye are bought with a prize therefore glorifie God in your body and in your spirits which are Gods If you buy any thing you expect the comfort of it whether it be for the health of your body or of your soule Thinke but the same of Christ and you will be willing to live to him that died for you 2 Cor. 5.15 and rose again Tell me next 3. Q. Who sanctified thee A. The holy Ghost Mark here The holy Ghost doth sanctifie us If I should aske thee What it is to be sanctified it is to be made holy But when I aske thee who sanctified thee it is to make thee holy and this is the worke of the holy Ghost Therefore Paul telles the Corinthians when they were changed in their state That they were sanctified by the Spirit of our God 1 Cor. 6.11 Now the holy Ghost doth sanctifie thee by taking away of sinne and giving of grace As if thou wert to give entertainment to a great and good friend thou wouldst first sweep out the dust and brush down the cobwebs and then lay out thy carpets cushions and other ornaments so the holy Ghost takes the besome of destruction the hammer Jer. 23.29 and fire of the word and sweeps out thy raigning sinnes by Repentance and the spirit of Judgement Esa 4.4 Gal. 5.22 23. Eph. 3.17 1 Cor. 3.16 and then brings in the graces of the Spirit to make thee an holy Temple for Christ to dwell in by faith All this the holy Ghost works by the Word Sacraments and Prayer By the Word for Christ prayeth Joh. 17.17 Sanctifie them through thy truth thy word is truth By the Sacraments for Paul saith Eph. 5.26 That he sanctifies and cleanseth his Church with the washing of water by the word and that We being many are one bread and one body 1 Cor. 10.17 for we are all made partakers of one bread Implying that in the Lords Supper we are sealed up into the body of Christ and we cannot be properly without holinesse By Prayer for Christ saith that if we aske the Father he will give us his spirit Vse Therefore my deare child ply the holy Ghost in this way wherein thou art sanctified and shalt encrease it more and more 2 Cor. 7.1 till thou grow to or perfect thy holinesse in the feare of the Lord. If there were but one Mart or Market where all necessary commodities were to be had thou wouldst ply that upon all urgent occasions so must thou deale with the Word Sacraments and Prayer if thou wouldst have the holy Ghost shine upon thee in the beautie of holinesse Tell me next because thou namest the Father the Sonne and Holy Ghost even these three 4. Q. How many Gods are there A. There are three persons and to us Christians but one God Goe to Jordan and thou shalt see the heavens opened There are three persons Matth. 3.16 17. whence the Father sent a voice from heaven the Sonne baptized and the Holy Ghost descending like a Dove to make up three persons Reflect upon thy own Baptisme and thou shalt behold thy admittance into the Church in the name of the Father Matth. 28.19 and of the Sonne and of the Holy Ghost to make up three persons again Consider our witnesses and thou shalt finde that we have three that beare record in heaven the Father the Word 1 Joh. 5.7 and the Holy Ghost and that these three are one For though there are three names or persons in the Godhead Yet is there but one God 1 Cor. 8.5 6. and though there be many that are called Gods and Lords yet to us Christians there is but one God This heavenly mystery may be shadowed unto thee a little in a fiered coale There is the substance of the coale the light of the coale and the heat of the coale and yet but one fiered coale So soone as ever the coale is fiered there are these three the substance of the coale the light and heat of it So in the same Divine Essence though in a more transcendent way is there the Father the Sonne and the Holy Ghost Yea it may be shadowed in thy selfe So soone as ever thou art borne into this world thou art a creature to God a childe to thy Parents and a subject to thy King and yet art thou but one So so soone as ever as God is that is from all eternitie he is Father Sonne and holy Ghost and yet but one God Vse This will help thee mightily in cleaving to the Scriptures and in all thy devout prayers to God Art thou tempted to question the truth of
saist He is that Almightie one and so he is for God saith to Abraham Gen. 17.1 I am God Almightie and Jeremy calles him Jer. 32.18 19. The great and mightie God great in Counsell and mightie in strength Almightie is one mightie to doe all or one that is all-sufficient for all things in himselfe and for us This Almightinesse or All-sufficiency stands in his skill in his will and in his power He is Almightie in skill to know all things Almightie in will to will all things that are good and Almightie in power to doe all things according to his will Were he not Almightie all these waies he could not be self-sufficiently blessed in himselfe neither could he be almightily sufficient for us Were he not Almightie in skill he could not almightily will according to an almightie knowledge Were he not Almightie in will he could not almightily doe according to an almightie knowledge and will Were he not Almightie in power were he never so Almightie in skill and will he could not be an all-sufficient worker for his own and our blessednesse But when these three things meet his knowing all things his willing all things good and doing all things according to his will nothing can lye between him and his own blessednesse nothing can hinder us from our blessednesse in him if we lye in his rode Vse The serious thought of this should my child humble direct and comfort thee It should humble thee under the mightie hand of God Power breeds feare and fear humilitie God made his power known to Job in the wind horse earth-quake and Leviathan Job 42.6 And then he abhorred himselfe and repented in dust and ashes Act. 12. As when the men of Tyrus and Sidon heard that Herod would wage warre with them they knowing that they were nourished with the Kings bread feared his power so when thou hearest of this Almightinesse thou must not so much feare them that kill the body Matth. 10. as feare him that is able to cast body and soule into hell if thou approach not to him with due obedience Againe thou must be directed from hence to labour to feele this Almightie power of God in thy body and soule for thy sanctification and salvation Paul prayes for the Ephesians Eph. 1.19 20. that they may know what is the exceeding greatnesse of his power to us-ward that beleeve according to the working of his mightie power which he wrought in Christ when he raised him from the dead And how is this Surely onely by feeling that as God raised up Christ so by their fellowship in and with them he doth raise up them from the death of sinne to the life of grace The good Lord grant that it may be thus with thee that as the power of that Almightie one did raise up the Lord Jesus so thou maist find thy selfe raised in and from him to such a new life as may appeare before God with acceptance Lastly thou maist have singular comfort also from this meditation in any adversitie that may come upon thee For this Almightie one can change thy vile body Phil. 3. and make it like unto his glorious body according to the mightie power by which he is able to subdue all things unto himself What though by affliction thy face be withered with weeping thy body crusted like a potsheard and burnt to ashes yet this Almightie one is able to raise thee up in the latter day Joh. 6. and to make those eyes of thine to see thy Redeemer Job 19. when thou shalt arise for thy selfe to the glory of Gods grace and thy everlasting comfort Next here thou tellest me how God hath manifested his Almightinesse God made all things By making and governing of all things That this Almightie God made all things doth appeare in Genesis Gen. 1. and 2.4 5. Esa 44.24 and God saith by Esay I am the Lord that maketh all things that doth stretch forth the heavens alone and spreadeth abroad the earth by my selfe To make all things is to give all things their being God gives the heavens to be the earth to be and all creatures in heaven and earth their severall beings And doe but weigh that it cannot be otherwise For the world was neither made by chance nor by nature Not by chance For as thou maiest see an excellent order in every thing and chance is an enemy to order so maist thou discerne set purpose in every thing All creatures have every thing provided of purpose to perfect them An eye hath a colour an eare a sound a palate a tastable thing and a smell savours yea brute beasts have fodder and man hath heaven and earth of purpose for body and soul Neither is it made by nature For then as nothing could be done above nature the contrary whereof thou maist perceive in the very butter-flies painted wings and the little gnats trunk which can pierce and draw bloud thorough a tough horses skin so could nothing be done against nature but thou maist observe the contrary Josh 10. for the Sunne stood still in Gibeon and the Moone in the valley of Ajalon in the daies of Joshuah and the Sun went ten degrees backward as was to be seene on the diall of Ahaz yea thou readest of an Eclipse of the Sun at the death of Christ when the Moon was at the full which was quite against nature If therefore the world was neither made by chance nor by nature thou mayst justly conclude that the Almightie God made all things Vse Therefore my deare child learn how to use and feare to abuse We must use all the creatures from God any of Gods creatures Thou must aske Gods leave to use any of them we hold all in God and from God and have no freedom to use them but as we have leave from him Godlesse people account every creature within their power their own and because they have a creatures right and a civill right by the laws and compacts of men they think they have an absolute right without dependance Therefore they never looke to God but say with Nabal shall I take my meat 1 Sam. 25. and my bread and my drinke which I have provided for my servants and give it unto strangers whom I know not from whence they come or whither they go But it must be otherwise with thee Thou hast the use of the Sun Moon and Stars heaven earth and all their furniture God made them all therefore thou must not dreame of an absolute right but humbly pray that thou mayst have libertie to use them under God without which thou canst have no sound comfort Besides We must not abuse any of the creatures thou must feare to abuse any of them because they are the good creatures of God Wilt thou dare to abuse the Kings stuffe or furniture of his house or those provisions which he hath made for his servants How then wilt thou dare
thou art subject to the miseries of this life and of the life to come The miseries of this life are all crosses to thy person comfort credit and state as sicknesses sorrows disgraces discomforts both within and without The miseries of the world to come are thy separation from the Lord and his Law the two principles of life for ever As when thy soul is separated from thy body a naturall death is made up so when thy person is separated from God and his word of comfort a spirituall death is made up which begins in this life and is continued for ever and ever Vse Oh my child feare and tremble under this burthen Thou art apt as all others to build up thy way to heaven with untempered morter saying to thy own soule that all is well when all is amisse This makes thee with an hard and impenitent heart to goe on in thy accursed courses But this doctrine of curses will teach thee that thou wert in danger before thou wast borne and ever since Thou mightst justly have been cast into hell before thou didst breath in this open world Thou hast all thy life been under the destruction of sinne and this hath enwrapped thee in the destruction of misery Thou feelest many paines and sicknesses which are but the light flashes of hell fire Thou art like a man condemned to a tormenting and dying death As if a man had a Caldron of boyling lead hang over his head and he starke naked under it First one drop falls upon his head another upon his shoulder another upon his arme another upon his hand another upon his backe another upon his belly another upon his legge upon his foot another which makes him start and shreeke but at the last the whole showre comes which makes him roare and tumble like a wild bull in a net So thou by this volley of curses art first nipt in one part then in another which makes thy joy to be interrupted and thy mirth many times turned into mourning But at last in death and Judgement comes an whole Sea of them which makes weeping howling and gnashing of teeth Weigh it seriously before it be too late It may be that God will leave a blessing behind to make thee search after a deliverance which is the next thing that comes to be skanned But first let me try thy profiting Thou toldest me that thou breakest all Gods commandements according to which thou shouldst serve him Tell me therefore Q. How many wayes doest thou breake them A. Three wayes Q. Which be they A. First in Adam secondly in the pronenesse of my nature thirdly in breaking one I breake them all Q. But the seventh part of time comes but once a weeke how canst thou break the commandement which concernes that every day A. I breake it before it comes and when it is gone Q. How before it comes A. By doing that upon the week day which makes me unfit to keep it when it comes Q. How when it is gone A. By not learning Gods wayes and not walking in his pathes Q. Art thou in danger of Gods curse A. Yes both in my body and in my soule Q. How doth God curse A. By inflicting of punishment Q. What punishment doth he inflict A. A destruction of my body and my soule Q. How doest thou know thy selfe to be destroyed A. When I am not used to that end that God made me for Q. What follows upon this A. A subjection to the miseries of this world and of the world to come Doe not forget how farre thou art gone God made thee thou art made to doe him service thou shouldst serve him as he commands thou breakest all his commands and therefore thou art under the curse and so a more miserable creature then a toade or any serpent if thou be not delivered Tell me then 21. Q. How shalt thou escape this curse A. Onely by Jesus Christ our Lord. Thou answerest rightly Christ is our deliverer from the curse Act. 4.12 for there is no name under heaven whereby thou canst be saved but onely the name of Jesus that is no authoritie power vertue or merit Gal. 3.13 It is he that hath redeemed thee from the curse of the law being made a curse for thee Col. 2.14 15. It is he that blotted out the hand-writing that was against thee and tooke it out of the way nayling it to his crosse and having spoyled principalities and powers made a shew of them openly triumphing over them in himselfe on the crosse and therefore when Paul groveled under the burthen of his sinne he could find no rest for his soule but in the Lord Jesus Christ Rom. 7.24 25. and thus must it be with thee therefore it behoves thee to know him If thou didst owe millions of pounds yea and satisfaction to the law by death and hadst but one friend in all the world that would and could undertake to discharge thee from all thou wouldst know him or else thou wert unworthy to have benefit by him So thou must know Christ in his names natures offices and uses by which thou hast saving good by him or else thou art unworthy of him And because this is signified in his names thou must throughly know the sense and vertue of them for thee He is called Jesus Matth. 1.21 because he saves his people from their sins He saves thee three wayes By Ransome by Rescue and by Mortification He saves thee by Ransome by laying down his life for thee Joh. 10.15 Thou shouldst have died the first and second death for ever and ever Christ died the first death and overcame the second for thee He saved thee by Rescue by delivering thee by strong hand When God was satisfied thy enemies the world the flesh and the devill would not let thee goe Luk. 1.71 74 75. Therefore Christ saved thee from thy enemies and from the hands of them that hate thee that thou being delivered from them mightst serve him without feare of them all the dayes of thy life in holinesse and righteousnesse before him He saveth thee by Mortification by killing of sinne of thee least thou be killed in sinne When thou art ransomed and delivered yet sinne sticks closer to thee then thy skinne Therefore to perfect thy salvation Christ strengthens thee with might by his spirit in the inner man Ephs 3.16 17. Rom. 8.13 and dwels in thy heart by faith that thou mayst mortifie the deeds of the flesh by the spirit He is called Christ because he is anointed Psal 2.2 Col. 2.9 This anointing is his having the fulnesse of the Godhead dwelling in him bodily He was not onely made partaker of the divine nature as we are but he was full God and full man personally united Joh. 3.34 and so he received not the spirit by measure but was anointed with the oyle of gladnesse above his fellowes Psal 45.7 The reasons why he was anointed were that
on of water that doth forgive thy sins nor doing of it in the name of the Father Son and holy Ghost but it is God that doth it for the merits of Christ and by the assistance of the holy Ghost and sealeth it to thee in the covenant of Baptisme if thou keep it according to the measure of grace given 32. Q. What benefit hast thou by the Supper of the Lord A. The body and bloud of Christ verily and indeed taken and received by my beleeving soul Mark this comfortable benefit by the Lords Supper The benefit of the Lords Supper Thy body receives the bread and wine Thy soul receives the body and bloud of Christ by beleeving God offers him in a promise this is my body this is my bloud and thou canst not receive a thing in a promise but by beleeving it If I promise to give thee houses and lands and seal a conveyance of them to thee thou canst not receive it but by beleeving my words and conveyance so it is with thee in this Sacrament Christ in respect of his bodily presence is in heaven for they are not to receive him Act. 3.21 till the time of the restitution of all things yet in the Sacrament we have his body and bloud taken and received As a maried woman hath her husband one flesh and heart with her though he be a thousand miles off Prov. 2. by vertue of the Covenant of God which they made so by vertue of the covenant and promise of God in the Sacrament though Christ be in heaven and thou upon the earth thou hast his body and bloud A man may be present in a place or to a place In a place as thou art here with me To a place as Paul was absent in body 1 Cor. 5. but present in spirit to the Corinthians that is by his Apostolicall spirit power and authority So is Christs body and bloud present to the receivers of the Sacrament faithfully When the Sun shines full upon our window we say that the Sun is come into the house yet it is not the Sun but the shining of it so we say that Christs body and bloud is in the Sacrament yet it is not Christs body and bloud carnally bloudily but the Rayes of his person and merits to the comfort of thy soul Every thing is received by us as it is perceived of us Thou receivest a colour by the eye because that perceives it Thou receivest a sound by the ear because that perceives it Thou receivest a scent by the nose because that perceives it Thou receivest savourie things by the taste because that perceives it Thou receivest the Revolution of the heavens by the understanding because that perceives it but thou receivest Christ in the Sacrament none of these wayes Thou seest him not feelest him not tastest him not hearest him not smellest him not understandest not how bread and wine both before in 1 Cor. 10.16 1 Cor. 11.27 28. and after consecration can be the naturall or glorified body and bloud of Jesus Christ and yet be bread and wine yet set thy faith on work upon Gods promise and thou canst truly receive Christ because thou perceivest him by faith and no otherwise He is given to thee as he may satisfie thee that desires him but thou desirest him to satisfie not a corporal but a spirituall hunger Joh. 6.35 36.62.64 Joh. 6.63 He is given as he may do the good but it is the spirit that quickeneth the flesh profiteth nothing Ob. If thou think that though his naturall flesh profits nothing yet his glorified flesh would Sol. Christ tels thee that it is his naturall body that comforts thee in the Sacrament not his glorified for Christ saith this is my body which is broken for thee this is my bloud which is shed for thee and I am sure that his glorified body was not thus dealt withall Ob. If thou ask me why the bread and wine consecrated in the Sacrament should then be called the body and bloud of Christ Sol. I tell thee it is not because it is properly so but first because of the Sacramentall union between the signe and the thing signified by Gods pact and covenant If thou receive the signe faithfully 1 Cor. 10.16 thou shalt have a reall communion with Christ by promise Next because of the change of the bread and wine from common to holy use Though there be not a substantiall change of them yet is there a change in use in name and in honour In use it is not used as common bread and wine but as the Supper of the Lord. In name during the time it is not called bread and wine but the body and bloud of Christ In honour It is used by the faithfull to give a reall communion with Christs body and bloud Use Therefore my dear childe make speciall use of this sweet benefit Who would not joy in such a communion Who would not be glad when he comes unto it Who except fools or mad men would not cashier all wicked society for this with Christ Nay if thou love thy soul and thy Christ the Saviour of it thou must abandon it As David said Away from me ye wicked Psal 119. I will keep the commandements of my God so thou must say away ye wicked I will have communion with the body and bloud of Christ Be of his minde that thought one dayes fellowship with Christ to be more worth then all the world But remember that thy soul must be a beleeving soul or else thou wilt never draw water out of this well suck honie out of this Rock There are thousands in the Church who presume to come to the Sacrament and think they may have fellowship with Christ yet keep their old sins their old fellowship also who never look what faith they have to carrie Christ home But what ever they do be thou sure to follow Gods will and my counsell about it forsake all and follow Christ If thou say that thou maist come to the Sacrament long enough before thou be assured that thou doest take and receive the bodie and bloud of Christ I le tell thee that I have observed two wayes whereby thou maist get some comfortable witnesse in thy soul of it First by the Spirit of Christ His bodie and bloud were never dis-united from his divine nature How we may be assured that we receive Christ in the Sacrament Ezek. 1.21 Therefore where his body and bloud goes his spirit goes along with it As the Prophet saith the spirit of the horses were in the wheels so the spirit of Christ is in his body and bloud to make them act for thy good Doest thou then finde his spirit Mark what Paul saith where the spirit of Christ is there is a killing vertue to subdue the flesh Rom. 8.9 10 11. and a quickning vertue to raise you from the death of sinne to the life of grace If it
be thus with thee let thy soul comfort it self that thou doest take the body and bloud of Christ Next 1 Joh. 1.6 7. thou shalt know it by thy course in this world For saith John If we walk not in darknesse then we have fellowship with Christ and the bloud of Jesus Christ the righteous cleanseth us from all sinne Therefore if thou doest not walk in the darknesse of sinne and errour but labourest to know and do Christs will then thou takest and receivest the body and bloud of Christ Thus I have shewed thee the numbe◠names and benefits of the two Sacraments 1 Cor. 11.29 But now because they that eat and drink the Lords Supper unworthily do eat and drink judgement to themselves therefore tell me 33. Q. How must thou reverently prepare thy self to receive this Sacrament A. I must examine my self whether I have desire repentance faith thankfulnesse and charity fit for the Sacrament Mark here Preparation to the Lords Supper God requires not any actuall preparation of thine before thou comest to Baptisme in thy Infancie If thou wert converted or convinced from Heathenisme Judaisme or Turcisme unto Christianity then must thou be prepared at least with a profession of actuall faith as Simon Magus Act. 8. Act. 10. Matth. 3. Matth. 28. Mar. 16. Act. 2. and thus thou must understand all those places of Scripture which set down confession of sinne or teaching or beleeving before Baptism But now thou art born in a Christian Church of Christian parents at least in outward covenant with God and art rightly baptized in thy Infancie and God requires no such preparation He looks upon his own covenant and promise which concerns not onely the Jew◠and their children Act. 2.38.39 but all that are afarre off even so many as the Lord our God shall call to the profession of Christianity and he looks to our parents professing Christianity as to the Jews former profession of Judaisme but he looks not upon thy personall preparation further then he disposeth thee himself either by sowing seeds of faith in thy soul which may sprout forth afterwards or by calling thee a beleever by vertue of his covenant with thee Matth. 18.6 Mar. 9.42 Yet when thou comest to the Lords Supper God doth require an actuall preparation This preparation thou saist must be by examination Preparation must be by examination 1 Cor. 11.28 Thou saist thou must examine thy self This Paul enjoyned the Corinthians to redresse the wicked abuses which had crept into the Lords Supper and this is as necessary for thee Thou wilt finde thy heart mainly apt to judge too well of thy self yea there is many a trayterous sinne in thy bosome which steals thy heart from thee and spoils thy fellowship with Christ Besides this thou lookest for comfort when thou comest to the Sacrament and all thy comfort depends upon thy disposition before hand As it is with a tree if it be well rooted the rain fals and the Sun shines upon it and the more it growes and flourisheth but if it be plucked up by the roots the more the rain fals and the Sun shines upon it the more it rots So is it with thy body and soul if thou art well stated in Grace the more Christ in the Sacrament shines upon thee the more thou flourishest but if thou be dead at heart and plucked up by the roots the more he shines upon thee the more thou rottest and perishest This examining thy self is asking thy soul questions What examinationis Thou lookest into the Word and searchest for qualifications which God requires to make Christians fit communicants Thou doest in the presence of God apply them to thy soul that thou maist passe censure accordingly and therefore that this work may be done thoroughly thou settest some time apart for this work that so thou maist rise or fall to thy self Psal 4.4 David said to Sauls Courtiers commune with your own hearts upon your beds and be 〈◊〉 that is when you have set your selves apart from all the businesses of the world and be quiet then talk with your souls And David himself when he found turmoil in his soul cals his soul to a reckoning Psal 42 43. why art thou so heavy O my soul Why art thou so disquieted within me So must thou before thou come to the Lords Supper As if thou should'st say O my soul now thou should'st go to the Supper of the great King Matth. 22. If thou go without thy wedding garment thou wilt be convinced made speechlesse and hear at last that fearfull sentence binde him hand and foot and cast him into utter darknesse where there shall be everlasting weeping wayling and gnashing of teeth tell me therefore art thou fit to go to it Hast thou such qualifications as Christs requires Try my soul look unto the word see what it sayes of this businesse apply it impartially to thy self that thou maist be humbled or cheerful according to severall states c. But about what must thou examine thy soul Thou tellest me that thou must do it about Desire Repentance Faith Desire Thankfulnesse and Charity fit for the Sacrament First thou must examine the fitnesse of thy desire Luk. 22.15 As Christ said with desire have I desired to eat the Passeover with you so must thou desire to eat the Lords supper Christ doth invite such unto his feast Hoe if any man thirst let him come Esa 55.1 Joh. 7.37 Others come as unworthy guests but these have Christs hearty welcome Christs bowels are moved over such As he had compassion towards them that had continued with him Mat. 15.32 and had nothing to eat so hath he over the thirsty He fils the hungry with good things Luk. 1.33 These desires fill up the gap where other graces are wanting For 2 Cor. 8.12 if there be first a willing minde it is accepted according to what a man hath and not according to what he hath not Vse Therefore my childe before thou come to the Lords Supper get these desires fit for the Sacrament Let them not be grounded upon the commandement of superiours onely nor upon old custom nor upon the fashion and practice of others nor upon a superstitious conceit of the work wrought that that will be for thy souls health but from an humble willingnesse to renew thy Covenant with God and to have a vertuous communion with Christ Thy covenant was publikely strook with God in Baptisme but thou hast all along dealt falsely with God concerning it Therefore now thou must earnestly desire it And that thou maist do it aright thou must examine thy knowledge of God the great covenant-maker the knowledge of thy sinne the great covenant-breaker the knowledge of Christ the great covenant-founder and the knowledge of the nature and use of the Sacrament the great covenant-confirmer Thou wilt not desire any thing but according to the knowledge
appear which will make us groan the worst that I feel is better then the best I do deserve And for humility which is the last though not the least meanes to make us to know our errours 〈◊〉 l. 25. the spirit doth assure us that the humble God will teach and if they be of Gods teaching surely they shall know so many errours as may make their hearts to ake and thus of the disease which was not my aym to be insisted upon Now for the remedy David flies to God by prayer and so must you The Remedy He is the Physitian and the balm in Gilead who is onely able to cure our errours though we know them not therefore Cleanse me from my secret sinnes There are two parts here do offer a view 1 The object secret sinnes 2 The act or work about them cleanse me 1 In the object learn you that the best have secret faults The best have secret faults I must demonstrate this and therefore know that if they be secret it must be with respect to some eyes that see them not and there are three sorts of eyes of God of the world and of a mans own conscience From the eye of God there are no secret sinnes yet wicked man labours to hide them two wayes Negatively by not confessing them and of this Solomon speakes he that hideth his sinnes shall not prosper Prov. 28. Positively as much as in us lies by the impiety of our desires that God could not see them and by foolish hope that he doth not pierce thorough the dark cloud for we do easily beleeve that which we would earnestly have come to passe Facile credimus quod valde volumus and this makes so many flying lyes of that to be done which we would fain have done and of that not done which we cannot endure to hear should be done From the eye of the world God will have many secret sins He knowes that he can make good use of such secret sinnes and that the people of God can make good use of them also God can make excellent use of them because he knowes that they have an Infective and Destructive power Potentia 1 Infectiva 2 Destructiva If every of our secret sinnes were known they would have a power to infect others Men are like Jacobs sheep which conceived by the eye Gal. 2.14 and Peter by his dissimulation compelled some that saw him to walk with an uneven foot Had it not been better that his sinne had been secret and that no eye had seen it Again if every of our secret sinnes were known they would have a power to destroy our selves from doing what we ought As Moses fled when he had slain the Aegyptian and did not cherish that heroicall motion which God had given him for the vindicating of the cause of his people so if all our secret faults were written in our foreheads would we not be ashamed to walk in any calling wherein the Lord had set us Would we not run away and hide our selves in bushes and eat Nettle-rootes and Juniper-roots as Jobs sonnes of Belial did rather then to come into the sight of men Seeing therefore that God can make such excellent use of a secret sinne he will have many sinnes to be secret from the eye of the world Gods people can make excellent use of secret sinnes also They can make them a seed of humility compassion Semen 1 Humilitatis 2 Compassionis 3 Gratitudinis 4 Pietatis thankfulnesse and piety They are a seed of humility when others praise them Oh why am I praised thus I must not be proud for if they knew all my secret sins they would not praise me so much They are a seed of Compassion when others sinne Oh how can I deal extreamly with poor sinners I must be compassionate for if others knew my secret sinnes I should deserve as severe a censure my self Can I be as Judah to cry out of Tamar let her be burn'd when I remember the ring and the staffe layed to pawn to her in secret No no the Judge was wiser of whom we reade of in the Primitive Church who when he was seriously invited into the place of Judgement to passe sentence upon another withdrew himself and at last being earnestly pressed came with a Bag of sand upon his shoulder to the Judgement seat saying you call me to passe judgement upon this poore sinner How can I do it when I my self am gilty of more then this bag hath sands if the world saw them all Which though it were not well done if he were a publike Judge to passe sentence upon publike crimes because then he should not be suspended by private guilts from publike censures and amendments yet it shews that our bosome sinnes should worke compassion They are a seed of thankfulnesse when God spares them and doth not entrap them in common miseries Oh why am I not plagued with sword famine and poverty as well as others Were all my secret sinnes open to the eye of the world I should be as bad as they Psal 103. and yet am I spared O my soul praise the Lord and all that is within me praise his holy name Lastly they are a seed of Piety to provoke them to do good in secret I have sinned in secret Oh why should not I do good in secret I le fast and pray in secret I le give Alms in secret I le do what good I can though no man look upon me for I am sure I have too many secret sinnes which the world little thinks of or imagineth Seeing therfore that Gods people can make such good use of a secret sinne or sinnes he will have many sins to be secret from the eye of the world From the third eye that is from the eye of a mans own conscience there are many secret sinnes also and of these principally doth David speake here It may seeme strange that a man should commit sinnes and yet his own conscience should not take notice of it yet a mans own sinnes may be secret to his own soul three wayes by Nature by Art Secretum 1. Natura 2. Arte. 3. Iudicio and by the Just Judgement of God First by Nature when the naturall conscience takes no notice for want of light Joh. 16.2 You read of those that shall cast Gods people out of the Synagogue and shall kill them and yet shall thinke that they doe God good service and all for want of light as it was with Paul when he was a persecuter So you read of strange things done by men and women in heathenish Rome not to be named for want of illumination also Rom. 1. Act. 17. Yea amongst us are there not thousands that doe things in publique and private practise which they would not doe if their consciences had light to doe better Oh therefore shut not your eyes against that light which the Lord offers in