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
for ever and can help for ever These are thy reasons The confident expectation of Gods answer is in this word Amen By this thou sealest thy consent and doest signifie thy desire and confidence And thou must do it For it is but a toy for one man to say the prayer onely and another man to say Amen Amen is part of thy devotion and all both Ministers and people or all others that pray must say Amen Use Therefore my childe once more hear this word of exhortation Use all these reasons and this Amen so as thou maist pray with successe and confidence O my God am not I in thy Kingdom Art not thou the God of power Will it not end in thy glory which was also the end why thou madest me And do'st not thou only live for ever everlastingly to help me I cannot but depend upon thee and confidently say Amen So be it Now in this close let me see how thou hast profited by what I have opened to thee about prayer Q. Why is prayer a means to encrease faith A. Because God must do it and he will be sought Q. How doest thou know that thou prayest aright A. When my soul doth religiously move out of it self to God Q. To what end A. To draw my self into fellowship with him against sinne and for grace Q. Where doest thou learn the matter of prayer A. In that which Christ taught his Apostles Q. Tell me the enterance into it A. Our father which art in heaven Q. Why callest thou him Father in prayer A. Because it ensureth my faith Q. Why sayest thou Our A. Because in love I must pray for all that are in communion with me to life Q. Why sayest thou which art in heaven A. Because it might raise up my heart thither Q. What doest thou ayme at in prayer A. The hallowing of Gods name Q. How canst thou hallow it A. When I live like a creature of God not of Satan Q. What doest thou need to this end A. Grace in my heart Q. How shalt thou get it Q. By Gods Kingdom comming into me by faith Q. Is it enough to hallow Gods name if thou have grace in thy heart A. No I must act grace in my life by doing of Gods will Q. How must thou do it A. By faithfull and zealous doing of it as they that are in heaven Q. But to hallow Gods name doest thou not need the things of this life A. Yes therefore I beg daily things convenient for my nature and person Q. What must be removed from thee for the hallowing of Gods name A. My sinnes past and sinnes present and to come Q. What would'st thou have done against thy sinnes past and present A. I crave a discharge from them for the merits of Christ made mine by faith Q. What would'st thou have done to prevent sinne to come A. I would not be left to my self or to the power of the Devill and the world Q. Why would'st thou not be in such a state A. Lest I fall into the evill of sinne and the evill of punishment Q. What is the evill of sinne A. Out of an evill conscience to love sinne and to like it Q. What is the evill of punishment A. To be left in the hardnesse of my heart to the condemnation of hell Thus O my childe Prov. 31.2 the childe of my wombe and the childe of my desire I have as I have learned given thee to hear the instructions of a mother I have been an instrument to bring thee into the world of sinners wherein thou art too like me and thy father in that wherein thou art most unlike unto God oh that I might be a meanes also to bring thee into the world of saved ones In the bowels of a tender mother let me perswade thee in time Jer. 8.6 to smite thy hand upon thy thigh and say what have I done It is enough yea too 1 Pet. 4.3 4 too much that thou hast spent the time past of thy life after the lusts of the world walking in wantonnesse and in other abominable wickednesses Eccles 12.1 Now remember thy Creatour in the dayes of thy youth and though when thou runnest not with others into the same excesse of riot thou be spoken of as an evill doer yet be not discouraged Esa 66.5 God will appear to such persons shame and thou shalt be comforted If thou wert of the world the world would love thee Joh. 15.19 but if thou be taken out of the world and keep faith 1 Tim. 2.19 Joh. 15.10 and a good conscience the love of the Father shall abide in thee and lead thee to everlasting life And because it cannot be thus with thee except God open thine eyes Act. 26.18 and turn thee from darknesse to light to receive forgivenesse of sinnes and inheritance among them that are sanctified by faith in Christ therefore I charge thee as thou wilt answer it to God in the dreadfull day of judgement that thou suck into thy soul this milk for babes It will plainly open unto thee thy Creation from God thy corruption by sinne thy cursednesse for sin and thy deliverance by Jesus Christ If thou be carefull feelingly to know these things together with Faith which is thy onely way to make Christ thine and canst but sensibly perceive the working and growth of it by the Gospell seals of it the Sacraments and prayer the work is done I will not say thou art a stranger to the Covenant of grace or that thou art not farre from the Kingdome but thou art a childe of the Kingdome and heir of life As therefore David said to Solomon up and be doing about the house of God so say I be diligent to learn and to feel this doctrine distill as the dew upon thy soul that thou maist passe from death to life Heb. 13.20 21. Now the God of peace that brought again from the dead the Lord Jesus Christ that great Shepheard of the sheep thorough the bloud of the everlasting Covenant make thee perfect in every good work to do his will working in thee that which is pleasing in his sight through Jesus Christ to whom be Glory for ever and ever Amen FINIS 1 Secret Sinnes discovered 2 Christ exalted amongst men 3 The Soul secured OR THREE SERMONS The first preached at Andrewes Holborn at a publike Fast The two other preached upon severall occasions at the Covent-Garden near Martins in the Field in the Moneth of February 1645 6. By ROBERT ABBOT Preacher of Gods Word at Southwick in Hantshire PROV 28.13 He that covereth his sinnes shall not prosper but who so confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy GEN. 48.19 I have waited for thy salvation O Lord. LONDON Printed by John Legate for Philemon Stephens dwelling in Pauls Church-yard at the signe of the gilded Lyon 1646. The Texts and Summe of what is handled in the following TREATISES Psal 119.12 Who can understand his
by the preaching of the Gospell 28 Q. How is this faith confirmed in thee A. By hearing the same Gospell preached and using the Sacraments 29 Q. What are Sacraments A. They are signes and seals of the righteousnesse of faith 30 Q. How many Sacraments are there A. Two onely Baptisme and the supper of the Lord. Q. What benefit hast thou by Baptisme A. A new estate in Christ and so the forgivenesse of my sinnes if I repenting do believe according to the Covenant of Baptisme 32 Q. What benefit hast thou by the Lords supper A. The body and bloud of Christ verily and indeed taken and received by my believing soul 33 Q. How must thou reverently prepare for this Sacrament A. I must examine my self whether I have desire repentance faith thankfulnesse and charity fit for the Lords table 34 Q. Is not prayer an excellent means also to make thy faith grow A. Yes it is a speciall means appointed by God 36 Q. What is prayer A. A religious moving of our souls to God to draw us into communion with him against sin for grace and all blessings 37 Q. Where canst thou more fully learn the matter of prayer A. In that which is commonly called the Lords prayer 38 Q. What is the enterance into this prayer A. Our Father which art in heaven 39 Q. What is the first petition A. Hallowed be thy Name 40 Q. What is the second A. Thy Kingdome come 41 Q. What is the third petition A. Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven 42 Q. What is the fourth Petition A. Give us this day our daily bread 43 Q. What is the fift petition A. And forgive us our trespasses as we forgive them that trespasse against us 44 Q. What is the sixt A. And lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evill 45 Q. What is the conclusion of this prayer A. For thine is the Kingdome the power and the Glory for ever Amen A briefer Catechisme to be opened at first Question GIve me the summe of Religion in one sentence A. A sinner being justified by faith is bound to live a godly life Here consider three things 1 Thy danger A sinner therefore subject to the miseries of this world and that to come 2 Thy deliverance Being justified by faith and therefore in Christ by the Covenant of grace for forgivenesse and all other things promised 3 Thy duty Is bound to live a godly life and therefore from Christ bound in the Sacraments to faith working by love Or more fully thus Q. Give me the summe of Religion in four words A. My Generation Degeneration Regeneration and Glorification Here thou must consider 1 What thou art from God A creature brought into the world from thy parents 2 What thou art in and from Adam A sinner subject unto all miseries even to the nether-most hell 3 What thou art in Christ A new creature delivered from the curses of the law that thou maist embrace the blessings of the Gospell 4 What thou art from Christ walkin a new course till thou comest unto Glory Or the words of Scripture thus Q. Tell me what is thy Religion A. 1 It is the faith of Gods Elect and the acknowledgement of the truth which is after godlines Tit. 1.1 2 It is my holding fast of the form of sound words which I have heard in faith and love 2 Tim. 1.13 3 It is all things pertaining to life and godlinesse 2 Pet. 1.6 4 It is the knowledge and service of God 2 Chron. 28.9 5 It is faith working hy love Gal. 5.6 None of these descriptions are contrary either to other but subordinate and provided you comprehend under them what is necessarily to be believed and to be practised all is well TO His much Honoured Patronesse the Lady HONORIA NORTON of Southwick in Hantshire All happinesse here and here-after MAdam I must make my Apology before I say a word more I present a Catechism unto you who are able to instruct others and a mothers Catechism for her children when you have no children of your own under your instruction now This may seem strange to them that know not you to be to me a great encourager to this little work to them that are ignorant of your affections to a common good You have had experience of the power and profit of it in your family and in the Congregation over which you care and you will have me do some little good by it as you think to others that may see and use it The blessing of God be upon it and their blessing fall upon you if they receive good by it who have bin the main cause under God of my setting it forth I confesse that I have thus many yeares last past been solicited by many well minded people who have had the benefit of my private exercises to have let this unpolished birth to walk into many houses But being loath to hold out a little candle to a quick-sighted age or to prevent the more elaborate endeavours of my learned brethren I have shut it up rather in my head where it stuck by judgment and frequency then under my pen which is not so happy as my tongue in this kinde But now being overcome by your Ladyships entreating-commands and commanding favours I can hold it a prisoner no longer I let it loose from my head and heart to my pen and paper and from thence to every English soul to be either embraced or rejected according to present fansie If it prove un-successefull I 'le bear the blame who as an old man being ready to deny my self a being in this world have a little learned to deny my self in this and suffer words of diminution But if it prove acceptable to Christs Church and profitable to his meanest Members you Madam shall have the thanks and credit under whose wings it hath found leisure to be born I know that you will be cōmending it to some of your friends if not out of self-worth yet out of a conceit and expectation of some such like thing But I beseech you be wary To praise that which deserves it not may speak well of your affections but discommend your judgment and I would not have you engage where it may be a prejudice to you in the issue Indeed this little Treatise is a Catechism And whereas preaching is a speaking unto men to instruction 1 Cor. 14.3 Luk. 1.4 Act. 2. Mat. 22.37 Joh. 3.16 edification and comfort Catechising is a speaking to men for instruction mainly preaching is a dilating of one member of religion into a body Catechising is the contracting of the whole into a a sum Preaching is for all sorts Catechising for the yong and ignorant this may commend the work if the workman were answerable and as a Master-builder did lay the foundation But I know not how it fals out this Treatise is much in a little and that little derived from the capacitie of a mother to the
in Adam the sonne of God by falling in him Joh. 8.44 thou becamest the sonne of the Devil thy Saviour comes to make thee the sonne of God againe without which thou canst not be the heire of glory Now marke God cannot give thee what he hath not The Father is not the Sonne neither is the Holy Ghost the Sonne but the Sonne is the Sonne Therefore he becomes thy Saviour to give thee sonship The Sonne of God becomes the sonne of man to make the sonnes of men become the sonnes of God He is made man that he might be a fit sacrifice Man is a more noble sacrifice then a woman Mal. 1.14 for cursed is he that hath a male in his flock and offers a corrupt thing Vse Now ponder seriously on this my child with thy selfe that thy Saviour is the eternall Sonne of God I tell thee that if thou have but any ingenuity in thee it will make thee both hate and avoid sinne Hadst thou such a Plague soare botch or boyle about thee that nothing could cure but the heart-bloud of the Kings sonne and the King should be so loving as to kill his onely sonne for thy health would'st thou not hate such a disease and take heed that thou never didst fall into such a disease againe This is thy case Thy sinne is a soare wound and plague that nothing could cure but the heart-bloud of the Sonne of God God out of his infinite love did send him into the world to take thy nature upon him that he might be reviled for thee spit upon for thee scourged for thee crowned with thornes for thee sweat drops of bloud for thee be crucified for thee and shed the bloud of his hands feet and heart for thee and all to cover and cure thy finne Wilt thou not now hate thy finne and be carefull to suppresse it and never fall into the like againe I hope thou wilt or else thy latter end will be worse then thy beginning Goe on now and tell me 23. Q. What hath Christ Jesus done for thee A. He suffered the paines of death for me Thou hast seene what Christ was What Christ hath done for us and is now sadly consider what he hath done for thee Thou happly mayst thinke it little for him to be borne for thee to live for thee though it were infinite love but because the purity of his nature and perfection of his obedience have influence into the value of his sufferings therefore thou doest mention onely these paines of death Peter mentioneth these paines of death Act. 2.24 and Paul cals them Rom. 6.9 the Dominion of death Phil. 2.8 and his humbling of himselfe and becoming obedient unto death even the death of the crosse What paines and torments Christ endured for thee then is unexpressible yet they may be valued a little Heb. 5.7 by his offering up prayers and supplications with strong crying and teares to his Father and by sweating drops of bloud when he grovelled upon the ground in so cold a season as made Peter creep to the fire in the high Priests Hall Surely there was fire nigh which caused this sweat What may the cause then of these paynes and torments be Surely the sight of our sinnes charged upon him Heb. 7.22 and the sense of his Fathers wrath He stood a Surety in our roome and was to answer for all our sinnes to God and not be discharged till he had satisfied for them all Look therefore as if a man were bound for a million of thousand pounds for other men when he was once attached his whole charge would be put in against him and this sight would be fearefull to him especially if he considered that they were his chiefe enemies for whom he was bound and a nest of unthankfull creatures who did load him with disgrace and obloquy Just thus was it with thy blessed Saviour Though he had the testimony of his enemies that never man spake as he did Joh. 7.46 Mar. 7.37 Act. 10.38 and that he had done all things well because the Lord was with him Yet when he was under arrests and executions Esa 43.24 he was made to serve with our sinnes and was wearied with our iniquities 2 Cor. 5.21 for he was made sinne for us who knew no sinne when all our sinnes were charged upon him and he was to make satisfaction to God his Father for them And whose sinnes were these The sinnes of those that were his enemies Rom. 5.10 the sinnes of his Disciples who runne away from him the sinnes of Peter who denied him and the sinnes of Jewes and Gentiles who crucified him The Jewes and Gentiles bare a world of enmity against him Eph. 2.16 yet he reconciled both unto God in one body by the Crosse having slaine the enmity in himselfe Thinke seriously whether this was not a torment and paine of death to have all the debts presented unto him of such sinners to be satisfied for Besides when God his Father saw him thus covered with sin in the State of a surety though the holinesse of his person was never polluted he withdrawes the blessed vision of the divine nature Wheresoever it shined abroad upon others yet though hee was personally united unto it it shined not upon himselfe but left him to sweat drops of bloud and his soule to be heavy unto death and his heart and tongue to cry out Psal 22.1 Mat. 27.46 My God My God why hast thou forsaken me Is not this an unutterable paine and torment of death Was it not enough for him to die but he must endure the sorrowes of death thus Use Oh my deare child forget not this point It will humble thee for sinne drive thee from sinne and comfort thee against sinne It will humble thee for sinne to think that it should present such a cursed visage to God that such a fearfull load must be laid upon thy Surety for it It will drive thee from sinne to thinke that if thou neglect so great salvation as Christ hath offered unto thee thou shalt be for thy sins in a worse case then he was He was able to slay hatred and enmity but thou canst not by suffering millions of millions of ages and therefore thou shalt have thy sinnes lye before thee for ever and the wrath of God will presse thee to all eternity It will comfort thee against sinne to thinke that thy Surety having endured this for thee it were unjust for God to impose it upon thee againe Onely be sure that thou keepe the Covenant of the Gospel that is when thou hast been translated out of the kingdome of darknesse into the Kingdome of his deare Sonne that thou honour the Father in the Sonne by beleeving in him with a faith working by love and then thou wilt have cause to triumph as Paul Rom. 7.25 I thanke God through Jesus Christ our Lord. Now let me see what thou remembrest and
understandest of what I have said Tell me Q. Who must deliver thee from the curse of the Law A. Jesus Christ onely Q. Why is he called Jesus A. Because he saves his people from their sins Q. How many wayes doth he save thee A. Three by ransome by rescue by mortification Q. How by ransome A. By laying down his life for me Q. How by rescue A. By delivering me by strong hand Q. How by mortification A. By killing of sin in me Q. What means doth he use A. The Word of God Sacraments and Prayer Q. Why is he called Christ A. Because he is anointed Q. What is his anointing A. His having the fulnesse of the Godhead dwelling in him bodily Q. Why was Christ anointed A. That he might be a Prophet Priest and King Q. Why was he a Prophet A. To reveale his Fathers will to me Q. Why was he a Priest A. To offer himselfe in sacrifice and make intercession for me Q. Why was he a King A. To rule over me and over-rule my enemies Q. How is Christ a Lord A. By possessing me as his own Q. Why was Christ a Lord A. To maintaine his right in me and to call me to accounts Q. What is this Jesus Christ our Lord A. The Sonne of God made man Q. Why must the Sonne of God be thy Saviour A. Because he might give me what I wanted Q. Why must thy Saviour be a man not a woman A. Because man is the more noble sacrifice Q. Did this God and man sonne suffer for thee A. Yes he suffered the sorrows of death for me Q. What were these sorrows A. The sight of my sinnes and the sense of his fathers wrath Remember my child how farre thou art gone Thou wast made to serve God thou shouldst serve him as he hath commanded thou breakest all the commandements and so lyest under the curse of the Law Jesus Christ came into the world to deliver thee from this curse This Jesus Christ was the Sonne of God and though he were the Sonne of God yet becoming thy surety he suffered the sorrows of death to satisfie God and discharge thee It may seeme strange that the Sonne of God who is immortall should dye Tell me therefore 24. Q. Seeing Christ was God how could he dye A. He was God and man As he was God he died not but as man he died for my sinnes and rose againe for my Justification Here thou tellest me of the natures of thy Saviour How it could be that Christ could die and of the use he made of them for thy good As to his natures he was God and man as to his uses he used his humane nature to dye for thee and his Divine nature to rise againe for thy Justification First he was God and man Man he was certainly for in his whole course and carriage Phil. 2.8 he was found in fashion as a man not in appearance onely for as is here demonstrative of the truth of his humane nature As John saith Joh. 1.14 we saw his glory as the Glory of the onely begotten Sonne of God that is his glory was the glory of the true Sonne of God so in fashion as a man that is a true man Therefore Paul saith we have one Mediatour betwixt God and man the man Christ Jesus 1 Tim. 2.5 Matth. 1.2 who is therefore often called the sonne of man the sonne of Abraham the sonne of David yea Heb. 2.16 the seed of Abraham according to the flesh He was as surely God For when he was given to us to be a Child a a Sonne his name is the mightie God Esa 9.6 Jer. 23.6 Rom. 9.5 and Jehovah our righteousnesse and over all God blessed for ever And John saith that this essentiall word of the Father who was with God was God Joh. 1.1 even from eternitie before and when God made the beginning of time Secondly As man Christ died Christ made excellent uses of these natures for thee of his Manhood he made this use to dye for thee For Christ suffered for thee in the flesh 1 Pet. 4.1 1 Pet. 2.24 and bare thy sinnes in his own body on the tree If the Sunne shine upon the body of a tree which thou hast a purpose to cut down thou canst cut the tree but thou canst not cut the shine of the Sunne that is united unto it and shines upon the gashes and dints thou makest in the bark heart sap and root So when Christ God and man was united for thee the unsuffering Divine nature could not suffer but the body of his flesh and blood that suffered and dyed for thee Man had sinned and man must dye It is not equall that another nature should suffer for man's sinne Therefore verily he tooke not on him the nature of Angels but he tooke the seed of Abraham that he might taste death Heb. 2.9 10. and be made a perfect Captaine of thy salvation through suffering Of his Godhead he made this use As God Christ rose againe Rom. 4.25 Rom. 1.4 to rise againe for thy Justification For he mightily declared himselfe to be the Sonne of God by the resurrection from the dead He was to deliver thee from a world of evil and to bring thee to a world of good things The guilt of sinne the wrath of God the power of hell the fear of death were to be wrought from thee by him The pardon of sinne the power from sinne the Inheritance of heaven were to be settled upon thee by him How could he ever have done any or all of these for thee if his Divine nature had not influence into his sufferings to bring thee the righteousnesse of God Rom. 3.25 26. Phil. 3.9 Let him have done all this for thee thou couldst never have been justified if he had not declared himselfe to be the Son of God with power by his resurrection from the dead This settles the merits of his death upon thee and assures thee that they are accepted by his father for thy discharge because death hath no more dominion over him Rom. 6. but he comes triumphantly out of the prison of the grave whither thy sins had cast him Christ bare a double person for thee the person of a suretie Heb. 7.22 1 Joh. 2.1 and the person of an advocate What he doth for thee for the discharging thy debt and for the settlement of a full satisfaction upon thee as a suretie that he doth in thy roome and it stands in the Law of God and man as a discharge of thy score what he doth as an Advocate in appearing for thee pleading for thee and satisfying all offices in thy roome that is interpreted as thy act thou must stand to it and challenge it as thy own When thou seest therfore Christ dying a satisfying death for thee and rising a discharged resurrection for thee from further imprisonment thou hast a full quietus est or assurance that
Job 21.14 Rom. 6. depart from me I desire not the knowledge of thy laws I will sinne that grace may abound 1 Cor. 15. let us â— at and drink for to morrow we shall die But let it not be so with thee Let thy soul move to God against sinne by confession and suits for pardon For grace by petitions and thankesgiving yea and for all other blessings that thou maist acknowledge him the fountain of them serve God with joyfulnes and gladnes of heart for the aboundance of all things Deu. 28.47 Use Thus maist thou my childe conceive what prayer is and therefore be sure that thine be such The wicked are ready to say Job 21.15 what is the Almighty that we should serve him Eph. 6.18 And what profit should we have if we should pray unto him But let thy soul alwayes move to God with all religion against sinne and for grace 1 Thes 5.17 If thy prayers be like the golden sockets of the holy lights boyling with speculations and not like the Bowles of the Altar full of the liquor of heavenly religion they will prove but like the Aegyptian flesh-pots reeking out the hot vapours of the onyons and garleek of thy own vain heart If they be fair words of uncharitable hearts they are like Ezekiahs bloudy pots Ezek. 24.6 that boyl with the scum of rust and lust But if they be the interpreters of a broken and bleeding soul moving to God they shall be Zacharies pots Zach. 14.20 and the bowles of the Altar sending up sweet incense which shall fill the whole heart with the savour as the house was filled with the odour of Maries oynment Joh. 12.3 The moving of thy feet to the assemblies of Gods people the moving of thy body by kneeling and beating thy breast and lifting up of hands and eyes to heaven the moving of thy tongue and lips will be nothing without this moving of thy heart and soul for fellowship with God in Christ Oh let thy heart move against sinne O Lord it hath oppressed me undertake for me My sinne in Adam my sinne of nature my sins of life in thought word and deed are before thee O pardon them for Christ his sake Let thy heart move for grace O Lord I want thy preventing grace thy assisting grace thy pardoning grace thy sanctifying grace thy sealing grace thy persevering grace Oh give them for Christ from Christ or else I die and perish Let thy heart move for all blessings O Lord I have nothing but under thee from thee Thou hast given me a naturall right to meat drink and apparel health peace and libertie Oh give me the right of a childe of an heir and accept my bodie and soul as holy living and acceptable sacrifices in Jesus Christ thy Sonne in whom thou art well pleased The God of heaven enlarge thy heart and give thee by his helping spirit Rom. 8.26 27. to vent thy soul with groanes and sighes that cannot be expressed These God that searcheth the heart and knowes the minde of the spirit will understand to thy eternall peace 37. Q. Where canst thou more fully learn the matter of prayer A. In that which is commonly called the Lords prayer The Lords prayer is the matter of prayer Thy blessed Saviour made many prayers which may bee called the Lords prayers but there is one which he hath set down as a doctrinall matter of prayer Matth. 6.9 when he saith after this manner pray ye and as a formall prayer when he saith Luk. 11.2 when ye pray say Our Father which is more peculiarly called the Lords prayer This is a brief comprehension of all confessions suits for or against of all intercessions and praises This hath the best authoritie in the world the wisedome of God the Son of God the onely beloved of God who is in the bosome of the Father and so of Gods nearest Court and nearest counsell This must give the graines of weight to all thy Petitions without which they will be found too light Vse Therefore my dear childe learn to pray from this thy blessed master Joh. 3.31 Christ that is from heaven is above all earthly masters will learn thee earthly prayers but he that is from heaven will learn thee heavenly Joh. 1. He is full of grace and truth for the perfections of thy understanding and of thy will He is the way wherein all thy prayers must walk to God Joh. 16.23 To aske in his name is to ask salvation and this is to ask himself which he cannot deny To ask in his name is to use his mediation and this is the right way to the throne of grace God the Father bears singular love to him Matth. 3.17 and and the efficacie of his merits are such as if they be presented in prayer they are powerfull and prevailing Revel 8.2 as the golden Altar before the throne on which are offred the prayers of all the Saints Wouldst thou have any grace learn of Christ to pray Wouldst thou forsake any sinne learn of Christ to pray Prayer is a most important dutie Dan. 6. Daniel chose it rather then to avoid Lions and David gave himself unto prayer Other duties are for certain seasons but this must must be continually in habit or act Luk. 18.1 Thou shalt finde thy self hardly drawn to prayer Easie businesses we are easily drawn unto because they are of quick dispatch but weightie businesses stick as the flaying of an Oxe at the head Thou must have many motives to draw thee to pray Christs command Christs promise Christs example and Christs doctrine This shews the weight of this dutie and how necessary it is to learn the matter of it from thy best Master Ob. Thou must think that every good Christian hath abilitie to pray and that therefore thou needest not learn Zach. 12.10 especially considering the promise I will powr out upon them the spirit of grace and supplication Sol. But understand that there is a double power and abilitie an inward power by which the heart moves and goes out of it self after God for all good This all good Christians have from the Spirit which they vent Rom. 8.26 by groanes and sighes which cannot bee expressed an outward power by which they are able distinctly to expresse the motions of their hearts about fit matter This they have not all neither hast thou Therefore must thou be willing to learn it from this blessed summe of Christ even all things to be hoped for I tell thee that it is much abused by three sorts of persons Ignorant persons who understand it not Impenitent persons who practise it not and carelesse and superstitious persons who minde it not in sence and power but rest in the emptie repetition of the words Be thou none of these know the words and sense of it use it as a penitent beleever and possesse the matter and contents of
it so fully that thou maist with reverence attention feeling and desire go out to God for necessarie materials to furnish thee in all briefer or larger supplications Which that thou maist do go along with me and tell me 38. Q. What is the enterance into this prayer A. Our Father which art in heaven Here thou doest bespeak God with an humble salutation As when thou hast any suit to a great man thou doest humbly salute him with his fit titles so here when thou hast many suits to thy God Christ learns thee to salute him with a title fit for prayer For God is here described by his goodnesse and by his greatnesse He that is good and great too will be as well willing as able to help thee The title of his goodnesse is Our Father Thou canst not spare either of these words Father is a title of immutability and of excellent love A father offended is a father still a prodigall son is a son still A man may be a friend to day and an enemy to morrow but a Father to day is a father so long as he is What will not a father do for his childe by indulgence compassion and bounty This then is a word of faith to hold up thy hands in prayer Our is a word of love to keep thee in Christian charity It includes thy selfe charity begins at home It includes also all that are or may be in communion and fellowship for life charity looks abroad to the salvation of all Christs body The title of his Greatnesse is which art in Heaven He is here and there and every where yet must thou look upon him in prayer as being in heaven This will keep thee from sawcinesse He is Our Father because thou shouldest not faint He is in heaven because thou shouldest not presume This will raise up thy affections in prayer above all the world Earthly fathers are mutable in affection may fail and want power to their hearts but no father like this father which is in heaven This will keep thy heart in tune to pitch upon chief things in prayer Eph. 1.3 spirituall blessings in heavenly things other moveables are for the sonnes of Keturah but these for Gods Isaacs This also will prepare thee to pray with all devotion Which art in Heaven are words of devotion for it tels thee that prayer is the work of Eagles that look against the Sun and not the work of Moles that dig in the earth and therefore thou must clarifie thy sight to converse with thy father in heaven when thou prayest and then as it was with Christ when he prayed Luk. 9.29 the fashion of his countenance was altered and his rayment was white and glistering so he will transforme thee from Glory to Glory till thou come unto his full image as thou art capable Vse Now my dear childe make the right use of this preface Let it raise up thy faith because thou prayest to thy Father kindle thy charity because thou goest out after the good of others and blow up thy devotion because thou forgettest the earth and conversest with thy father which is in heaven Use it as a means to prepare thee to prayer by answering of it by the spirit of adoption to cry Abba father by the spirit of charity to make thee lift up pure hands to God without wrath to men and by the spirit of devotion to seek heavenly things and earthly in an heavenly way Lastly be sure to use it aright by excluding no person in Trinitie when thou prayest by excluding all creatures when thou prayest by conceiving God aright in prayer as a Father in Christ who being in heaven can showre down upon his inheritance all fruitfull blessings and by learning never to pray to God without due preparation 39. Q. What is the first petition A. Hallowed be thy Name Here thou prayest for the chiefe end of thy creation What is prayed for in the first Petition and all blessings upon thy selfe and others By the Name of God thou must understand God himselfe any wayes made known unto thee Name is taken for person as Esay hath it Esa 26.8 The desire of our souls is unto thy name and when God is made known by his nature word worship or works of creation or providence this is his name By hallowing of Gods name thou must understand the manifesting of God to be as he is in himselfe high and excellent Thou canst not doe it by separation and application of Gods name to holy uses as thou doest the Lords day and the Sacraments but thou mayst doe it by declaration of what God is in his worke in thee and in thy worship and service of him to life Now Gods name cannot suffer from God himself Angels and Saints in heaven though they will and must glorifie him but from thee and us poor sinfull men women and children And we hallow his name when we challenge it from Ignorance by knowledge and acknowledgement from oblivion by the remembrance of thee from contempt by confession praise and swearing by his name in truth holinesse and righteousnesse And from prophanation by blasphemy in tongue or life or any other prophanation of his Justice mercy goodnesse truth or the like Use Therefore my good child take diligent care of this petition Thou knowest that Gods name is holy and Reverend that none can hallow it but the holy for praise is not comely in the mouth of a foole Thou knowest that God is thy Father and it is a debt of charitie to honour thy father Thou knowest that all the servants of God when they see Gods name advanced will know him and trust in him Seeing therefore thou hast so many tyes strive with God in prayer that thou mayst do this work Pro. 18.10 Gods name is a strong towre and our help stands in the name of the Lord our God Thou seest how little Gods name is sanctified God passeth by and we know him not Thou seest how the wicked prophane it and knowest that God will honour them that honour him Therefore be thou sure to ayme at the hallowing of Gods name If the Devill should stand up in Judgement against thee and plead Great God thou hast done wonderfull works for this thy creature and yet he doth dishonour thee in thought word and deed I have done nothing but sought his ruine and burning in the pit of hell and yet he serveth me deedily what wouldst thou answer for thy self wouldst not thou be speechlesse Take heed If any work be wrought if it be wrought basely and bunglingly he that wrought it hath no credit by it If it be wrought curiously every man that passeth by takes notice of it and praiseth the workman This is thy case Thou art the workmanship of God If thou shew thy selfe forth like Gods workmanship and live to his honour thou doest hallow Gods name but if thou live wickedly as if the devill made thee thou doest not
the word by the preaching of his faithfull servants for if conscience be imperfectly sighted there will lurke many a secret sin which will wound at the latter end Secondly by Art when the devill useth all his skill his methods and depths to make a sinne secret to us Ordinarily he useth foure Commendation of others thus pride is commended for cleanlinesse drunkennesse for good fellowship duelling for gallantnesse of spirit and then conscience sleeps and there lies a secret sinne Custome is a second when men have long traded in it the guilt lies hid Certe quum fuit mos nec fuit culpa Thus came in the Polygamy of the Patriarchs and thus bribery extortion and common-swearing by God or faith or troth come to be hid from conscience Yea have not we done many things of custome about the Lords day the Lords worship beside in our ordinary course which upon better Information we rejoyce now to be rid of Profit is a third When a course brings in gain lulls the conscience in the glorious sight of it awhile and it falls asleep Then you may bring in profit enough and conscience takes no notice of it and thus lurks a secret sinne This makes covetousnesse to many counting gaine godlinesse to some and many lying and cousening tricks in trading to be secret sinnes seldome or never noticed to Conscience Pleasure is a fourth When thoughts words or deeds have pleasure in them conscience is soone charmed to take no notice of them and so growes a secret sinne Thus pride wantonnesses drinkings and a thousand dalliances are hid from the eyes of this worlds wantons to be sins thorough the pleasures of them and this is Satans art to make many sins secret sinnes Thirdly sinnes may be secret by the Just Judgement of God When God justly blinds the eyes of sinners that will not come to Christ that they might be saved Joh. 5. and gives them to blindnes of mind that seeing they may see Rom. 1. not perceive Of this we have three fearful examples in Scriptures The Gentiles whom God gave over to vile affections to which they Indulged without sense because they basely dishonoured God in their heathenish Idolatry The Jews who because they shut their eyes against the beames of Christs Majestie in his preaching and miracles were given up to call for his bloud upon them and upon their children This was a secret sinne to them 1 Cor. 3. for if they had known they would not have crucified the Lord of life Antichristian Christians who because they receive not the love of the truth 2 Thess 2. that they might be saved God gives them over to believe lyes that they might be without repentance damned and so all their foolish abominations and wicked Idolatries are secret sinnes to them And thus have I demonstrated this object that the best in some kind or other have secret sinnes Use Therefore this must stirre up your care to set your watches to finde out these secret ones as well as you can If you knew there were a thiefe lurking secretly in your house you would feare the danger set watches and search every corner much more must you doe it for your souls which are in danger every minute by your secret sinnes Nature is blind flye to the light of Gods word The course of the world is deceitfull walke in the path of the righteous Gods Judgement is grievous provoke him not with the love of any sinne The very thought of a secret sinne me thinks should make you watch and watch again and again Ob. You will say that you have enough sinne which you know to look unto Sol. That is true and more then enough For sinne is worse then hell and to be in sinnes hand is worse then to be in Satans for sinne onely makes him hold fast Ob. But if sinnes are secret you will say surely they are of little value Sol. But I tell thee sinnes are not valued by their secresie but by their nature and object against whom c. The smallest sinnes doe no small hurt Drops of raine are very small yet may they make great flouds A bird may be caught by one claw as well as by the whole body A boy may creep in at a window better then a man and let in the strongest thiefe that is to come in so may the smallest sinne let in the greatest Therefore I say to all watch against secret sins If you will close with me now ask Q. How you may find out a secret sin How secret sinnes may be discovered Prov. 28. I shal give you the best light I can First you may find thē out by fear Blessed is he that feareth always for such a man wil not harden his heart Fear will make a man suspect every thing that hath not sound warrant and thoroughly to examine all thoughts words deeds A man finds by the daily losse of things that a secret thiefe doth hant his house He is loth to suspect those that are approvedly known to be honest people but he will have a strict eye upon every man else and examine his busines his calling Jon. 1. his living and his expenses and so at last he wil discover him So you loose every day some strength in grace some comfort some peace some good or other You will not suspect known inclinations thoughts words or deeds which are approved by the plaine words of Scriptures But if they be other grounded upon ignorance custome profit pleasure honour suspect and try them and out will the secret sins come which must be abandoned Secondly thou maist finde them out by drawing things from trade to truth To make a trade of any sinne doth at last make a sinne secret Commit it once and it is grievous Commit it a second time and it is light Commit it a third time and it is desireable Commit it a fourth time and it is delightfull Commit it a fift time and it is defensible Commit it a sixt time and it is insensible and so it becomes a secret sinne But now draw it before the truth of Gods word and the light of it will shew the foulnesse of it and the foulnesse of it will make it questionable the questioning of it will open the guilt the guilt bindes the conscience and then except conscience be out-faced by impudency it will be secret no longer Thirdly thou maist finde them out by Repentance Let the terrours of the Almighty the love of God the bloud of Jesus Christ and the ghastly sight of death and judgement work thy guilty soul but to repent or to repent of one sinne and thou wilt finde out many secret sinnes A penny is but a little piece of silver in it self but put it into a Payle of fair water and it seems as big as a shilling So put thy least sinne into a watery and penitent soul and it will be of a vast bignesse Thou shalt see that in due
the throne a Sea of glasse Apoc. 4. such is the world to the Christian troublesome as the sea and transitory as glasse His ship that is the Church which like Noahs Ark floats upon the floud and makes him cry out as the Disciples in that storm save Master we perish His Merchandise that is true and heavenly wisdome Pro. 3.14 whose Merchandise is better then silver and whose gain is better then gold His losses that is his houses and lands Mar. 10. Matth. 16. his father mother wife children life yea and his soul too if he do not watch and pray and then what will it profit him to win the whole world if hee lose his owne soul Secondly a Merchant lends upon adventure He commits what he hath to the mercy of the sea to the unsafety of a ship which staggers up and down like a drunken man and is subject to many a storm and leak and to be indangered by Pyrats So doth a Christian If he look for comfort he casts his burthen upon the Lord and he knowes not when he shall have it If he look for faith peace joy in the Holy Ghost he casts himself upon the meanes and confidently adventures upon the truth of God If he looks for better times he casts the Anchor of hope because he hath them not and looks for new heavens 2 Pet. 3. and new earth wherein dwelleth righteousnesse If he do but a work of mercy Eccles 11. he casts his bread upon the waters hoping after many dayes he shall finde it but he knowes not when the return will come If he finde his expectation to be fruitlesse he sayes as Peter to Christ we have laboured all night and have taken nothing yet at thy command I le cast down the Net and at last findes the successe answerable Thirdly a Merchant fetcheth in the commodities of every Country to enrich himself and his country the gold of Ophir the gummes and spices of Arabia and whatsoever he findes gain and glory in So doth the Christian If any thing be heard of truly good and honest Phil. 4. and of good report he thinks upon these things to do them He knowes how to distinguish betwixt base and valuable commodities If he meet with the superstition of Spain the pride of France the lust of Italy the drunkennesse of Germany he hates them even to the garment spotted of the flesh but whatsoever he meets withall that may be an honour to God an ornament to the Gospel an edification to his neighbour a comfort to his own soul that he brings home to inrich himself and others with it Fourthly a Merchant fetcheth all he hath from far As it is said of the good housewife she is like a Merchants ship Prov. 31. she fetcheth her food from a farre She fetcheth it from the earth to the house from the house to the wheel from the wheel to lomb from the lomb to her houshold her own and her husbands back Thus doth she her husband good and not evill all the dayes of her life So doth the Christian He looks to the earth to the Sea under the earth to the ayr yea and to the Church to espie what may be serviceable to him and his but yet he goes further He dares not make use of any thing he hath or can have before he knocks at the gate of heaven He sees an open trade driven betwixt Christ and his Church and he will not have gold nor rayment Apoc. 3. nor eye-salve no nor a crust of bread before he have beg'd the comfortable use of them from the great owner of heaven Vse Therefore I beseech you Christians be perswaded that it is not so easie to be a true Christian as most men think it to be You know the conceits of too many What is it but to beleeve in Christ and what is this belief but to trust in Christ upon the rotten grounds of their own hearts Oh but a Merchants life is full of care full of fear full of depending prayers full of hazards and losses and so certainly is a Christians also They are deceived that think to stretch themselves upon beds of Ivory Am. 6.4 to drink wine in bowles to eat the calves of the stall to invent instruments of Musick like and then to go to heaven in a Sedan Coach or Chariot as Elias The Kingdom of heaven must suffer violence and the violent take it by force Thorough Sea Land and a thousand difficulties doth a Merchant passe and so must you Ob. But doth not Christ say my yoak is easie why then are we frighted with danger and difficulty Sol. It is true that in many respects Math. 11. the yoak of Christ is easie and his burthen light In comparison of the yoak of Moses exacting perfect righteousnesse to justification or else cursing This was insupportable Act. 15. neither we nor our fathers were able to bear it In comparison of the yoak of worldly Princes These have a double yoak in penall statutes and voluntary decrees and resolves We would account our selves most miserable if we should be galled with the easiest of them In comparison of Adams yoak exacting the perfecting of the law of nature Posse perseverare non actum perseverandi for which he had a power of perseverance though not the act of it Alas we cannot do it we have not this power we cannot bear In comparison of the excellent helps we have to bear it Christ puts into one hand that we may pay him with the other Thus he saith they shall not depart from me Jer. 32.40 Therefore in these respects the yoak of Christ is easie But in respect of the duties of the Gospel and our weak natures to perform them it is very hard Put your souls to repent and beleeve to deny your selves to take up Christ and beleeve not onely to beleeve but to suffer for Christ to strive unto bloud to deny ungodlinesse and worldly lusts and live holily righteously and soberly in this present world to beat down the body and bring it in subjection to mortifie the deeds of the flesh by the spirit not to care for the flesh to fulfill the lusts of it and to walk in simplicity and godly purenesse it is hard very hard therefore ye have cause to think of the life of the Merchant Yet this addes to the worth of the Gospel that this Christian Merchant trades in this Kingdome of heaven 3 What doth he trade for The commodity traded for is the Pearl Christ Pearles especially for that pearl of great price that godly pearl This represents Christ unto to you who is the Diamond heart and soul of the Gospel And in truth Christ is this pearl in five respects First in respect of rarenesse Pearls are not to be found in every ground nor Christ in every soul How many thousands are there where Christ dwels not It is as impossible not to see a