Haft thou Submitted to so much to deliver us from Eternal Mifery, and wilt thou let us fink under lefferbur dens? These are the Inftruments and means by which all Mankind is or may be, delivered, thefe the motives which the best of men have prevailed by, therefore by the means,and for the fake of these thy fufferings, Good Lord deliver us.

III. By his precicus Death and Burial, which were the doleful effects of his Crofs and Paffion.The Death even of a good man is precious, Pfal. cxvi, 15. but the Death of Chrift the most precious of all, 1 Pet. i.19.being accepted by God as a fufficient price to deliver all the world from Death Eternal: Death is the greateft of Evils, and the Wages of Sin; but Jefus who had no Sin fubmitted to it, yea ftooped fo low as to defcend into the Grave, remaining in Hades, or the state of the Dead, until the third Day: So that we have now these admirable Condefcenfions of his for a ground of our Faith, and a motive to our Petitions for deliverance. If his love had been lefs than infinite he had not done all this, and if it be fo great, why do we fear defertion? He hath dyed for us, and fhall his death nothing avail, muft we dye alfo? When it coft him his life, he refufed not to redeem us, and will he leave us, when he may deliver us by one fingle word? He that was content to lye in the darkfome and doleful Cell of the Grave, yea to defcend into Hell for us, no doubt hath a mighty pity and affection for us, and by all that Mercy we now befeech him to deliver

us.

IV. 15y his glorious Refurrection and Afcenfion. We have followed our deareft Lord through all the fteps of his Humiliation, and the Stages of his mifery, and now we turn our Eyes toward his reftauration, and the regaining of his Glory, for his Exaltation as well

as

as his Sufferings afford us Arguments to crave mercy : His Death and Burial were paccions, his Kesurrectton and Afcenfion glozions, thofe declare how much he would, thefe how much he could do for us. Good Will and ability are often separated in Men, fome would deliver us,but cannot, others can deliver us and will not; but in Jefus they both meet in the highest Degree, he broke the Chains of Death, opened the inexorable gates of the Grave, and is now afcended to where he was before: Are our Calamities ftronger than death,or more invincible than the grave? Cannot he who did fo illufiriously deliver himself, when under feals and guards, under the power of death, and in the mouth of Hell, cannot he deliver us? He is afcended into glory, and will he fuffer us to defcend into mifery without help or any fuccour? Let us then engage him by his infinite power and his unspeakable glory to deliver us, he arofe that death might not hold us, he afcended to prepare a place for us, now by the mercy of thefe moft excellent detigns, we will pray, Good Lord deliver

us.

Lastly, By the coming of the Holy Ghoft.Although our Saviour was not to stay always among us himself yet he promised upon his departure to fend his Holy Spirit to be his Refident here, until his fecond coming, and that he might fhew at once the Truth of his own promife, the prevalency of his intereft in Heaven, and the continuance of his love to us on earth, he did moft eminently fulfil this Promife within ten days after his Afcenfion, by the coming of the Holy Ghost:Wherefore we beseech him by his Love in promiling, his Truth in performing, by his Intereft in Heaven, and his Honour on Earth, that he will pleafe to deliver us; the Spirit is the greatest and bett of all Gifts, and fince he hath given us that, we may well hope for all leffer favours, efpecially

pecially fince this Holy Spirit intercedes for us, and with us, by unexpreffible fighs and groans, that our Good Lord would deliver us: We can now engage him by this Advocate of his own appointing, and doubtless he will grant our Suit, when he hath furnished us with fuch an Intercefforsby the love which thou expreffedft in giving thy Spirit to us, Good Lord,&c.

Thus we may very effectually apply them severally, or if we look back upon our own Miferies,and compare thefe Acts of Jefus with them, we fhall find there is a falve for every Sore; and if we will be more particular, we may beseech him to deliver us from the Corruptions of our nature, and Original Sin, by his Holy Incarnation and Nativity; from the Power of Iniquity, by his Circumcifion and his Baptism; from Famine, by his Falling; from all the Deceits of the world, the flesh and the Devil,by his Temptation; from the terrors of war,and Tempefts, Plagues and other devouring Judgments, by bis Agontes and bloody Sweat; from the wrath of God, by his Crols and Palion; from an evil and untimely Death, by his pzetions Death and Burial; from the miseries of a mortal State, by his glorious Refurrection and Ascension ; and from hardness of Heart, and contempt of Gods WORD, by the coming of the Holy Ghost: Thefe are the Arguments by which Jefus intercedes for us to his Father, defiring that he will have mercy on us, because he was born like unto us, lived with us, dyed and rofe again for us,and we use the fame motives to our bleffed Mediator, and if we do it fervently, they cannot be denyed: And though our mifery ought to make us plead by thefe admirable Arguments very devoutly always, yet I would have it noted, that there are some folemn Times, when every particular Argument comes to be more proper and feasonable, than ordinary: Thus at

Christmas

pecially fince this Holy Spirit intercedes for us, and with us, by unexpreffible fighs and groans, that our Good Lord would deliver us: We can now engage him by this Advocate of his own appointing, and doubtless he will grant our Suit, when he hath furnished us with fuch an Intercefforsby the love which thou expreffedft in giving thy Spirit to us, Good Lord,&c.

Thus we may very effectually apply them feverally, or if we look back upon our own Miferies,and compare thefe Acts of Jefus with them, we fhall find there is a falve for every Sore; and if we will be more particular, we may beseech him to deliver us from the Corruptions of our nature, and Original Sin, by his Holy Incarnation and Nativity; from the Power of Iniquity, by his Circumcifion and his Baptism; from Famine, by his Fafting; from all the Deceits of the world, the flesh and the Devil,by his Temptation; from the terrors of war,and Tempefts, Plagues and other devouring Judgments, by his Agentes and bloody Sweat; from the wrath of God, by his Crols and Pallion ; from an evil and untimely Death, by his pzetions Death and Borial; from the miseries of a mortal State, by his glorious Refurrection and Ascension ; and from hardness of Heart, and contempt of Gods Word, by the coming of the Holy Ghoft: Thefe are the Arguments by which Jefus intercedes for us to his Father, defiring that he will have mercy on us, because he was born like unto us, lived with us, dyed and rofe again for us,and we use the fame motives to our bleffed Mediator, and if we do it fervently, they cannot be denyed: And though our mifery ought to make us plead by these admirable Arguments very devoutly always, yet I would have it noted, that there are fome folemn Times, when every particular Argument comes to be more proper and feafonable, than ordinary: Thus at

Christmas