Let him take all there is no living quietly by 〈…〉 A dog at his carrion or a swine in his trough is not more greedy then many of these sensualists that labour of the Caninus appâ—titus to their trash But to Holiness they have no appetite and are worse then indifferent to the things that are inâ—…sirable They have no covetousuess for the things which 〈…〉 commanded earnestly to covet 1 Cor. 12 31. They have â—…tle hunger and thirst after righteousness that a very little or none will satisfie them Here they are pleading alwayes for â—â—deration and against too much and too earnest and too long And all is too much with them that is above stark naught or dead hypocrisie and all is too earnest and too long that would make Religion seem a business or would engage them to seem serious in their own profession or put them past jeast in the worship of God and the matters of their salvation Let but their servants or children neglect their worldly business which I confess they should not do and they shall hear of it with both ears But if they sin against God or neglect his Word or Worship they shall meet with more patience then Eli's sons did A cold reproof is usually the best and it is well if they be not encouraged in their sin and if a child or servant that begins to be serious for salvation be not rebuked derided and hindred by them If on their dayes of labour they over-sleep themselves they shall be sure to be called up to work and good reason but when do they call them up to prayer When do they urge them to read or consider or conferr of the things that concern their everlasting life The Lords own day which is appointed to be set apart for matters of this nature is wasted in idleness or worldly talk Come at any time into their company and you may have talk enough and too much of news or of other mens matters of their worldly business sports and pleasures But about God and their salvation they have so little to say and that so heartlesly and on the by as if they were things that belonged not to their care and duty and no whit concerned them Talk with them about the renovation of the soul and the nature of holiness and the life to come and you shall find them almost as dumb as a fish or as dry as a chip or as erroneous or insensible as those that speak but words by rote to shew you how little they savour or mind the things of the Spirit The most understand not matters of this nature nor much desire or care to understand them If one would teach 〈…〉 personally they are too old to be catechized or to learn though not too old to be ignorant of the matters which they were made for and are preserved for in the world They are too wise to learn to be wise and too good to be taught how to be good â—…ough not too wise to follow the seducements of the Devil â—…he world nor too good to be the slaves of Satan and the deâ—…rs and enemies of goodness If they do any thing which theâ—… a serving of God it is some cold and heartless use of wordâ—…ake themselves believe that for all their sins they shall be saved so that God will call that a serving of their sins and abomination which they call a serving of God Some of them will confess that Holiness is good but they hope God will be merciful to them without it And some do so hate it that it is a displeasing irksom thing to them to hear any serious discourse of holiness and they detest and deride those as fanatick troublesome Precisians that diligently seek the One thing necessary So that if the Belief of the most may be judged by their practices we may confidently say that they do not practically believe that ever they shall be brought to Judgement or that there is any Heaven or Hell to be expected and that their confession of the truth of the holy Scriptures and their profession of the Articles of the Christian Faith are no proofs that they heartily take them to be true Who can be such a stranger to the world as not to see that this as the case of the greatest part of men And which is worst of all they go on in this course against all that can be said to them and will give no impartial considerate hearing to the truth which would recover them to their wits but live as if it would be a felicity to them in Hell to think that they came thither by wilful resolution and in despight of the remedy And is it not a sad prospect to a man that believeth the Word of God and the life to come to look upon such a distracted world O Sirs if Jesus Christ be wise that condemneth their course and them then certainly all these men are fools And if Christ knew what he said we must needs think that they know not what they do O what is the matter that reasonable men should have no more use of their reason in things of such importance then thus to neglect their everlasting state for a thing of naught Did God make them unreasonable or give them understandings uncapable of things of such high concernment Or rather have 〈…〉 not drowned their reason in sensuality and wilfully poisoâ—…th malicious aversness to God and Holiness What is â—…ter that the One thing needful is no more regarded Hath God made them believe that they shall dwell here for ever and never die No surely this is so gross a lye that the Devil himself cannot make them believe it They know that they musâ—… sure as they are alive And yet they prepare not but wâ—…eir dayes in scraping in this dunghill world as if they werâ—…o no further Did God never warn them by a Sermon or 〈…〉 to prepare for the life which they must live for ever Yes â—…y a time but they would take no warning Did God never â—â—ll them that after this life there is another where they must live in endless joy or torment Yes and they professed that they did believe it They heard it an hundred times over till they were weary of hearing it Did God make them believe that they shall die like beasts that have no further to go nor any other life to live No if they do believe this it is the Devil and not God that maketh them believe it What then is the matter that the One thing needful is no more regarded Hath God shut up their souls in desperation so that it is in vain to seek or trouble themselves for that of which there is no hope Oh no! his compassion hath provided them a full remedy by the death of his Son Redemption is procured and he hath made them a deed of gift of Christ and pardon and eternal life and tendred it to them that upon theâ—â— acceptance it may be theirs Many a time hath he offered this mercy to them and many a time hath he urged them to accept â—…t He hath set before them life and death and
say that this One thing is needless for which thou hast all things Thou mayest then say that God made the world in vain and preserveth and governeth it in vain For all this is but for his service which thou callest vain Quest 11. Doth not Reason tell thee that the place in which thou must live for ever should be more diligently minded and prepared for then this in which thou must continue but for a while Alas it is so short a time that we must be here that it makes all the matters of this world as such to be inconsiderable things as dreams and shadows What great matter is it for so short a time whether we be rich or poor well or sick in credit or in contempt whether we laugh or weep When our part will be so quickly acted and we must go naked out of the world as we came into it For so short a time a poor habitation may serve the turn as well as the most splendid Palace A painful obscure afflicted life may do as well as the most plentiful provisions and the greatest ease and worldly honours The purple and fine linnen the silks and bravery will be soon forgotten and the soul in Hell will be no more the better for them then the rotten carkase in the grave The taste of the delicious meats and drinks will quickly be forgotten and sportful youth will be turned into cold and languid age and the most confirmed health into dolorous sickness and mirth and laughter into mournful groans And is such a transitory life as this more worthy of your care and greatest diligence then life eternal O one would think that the world that you must be ever ever in should never never be forgotten There is the company that you must live with for ever There is the state that you shall never change There is the Joy or Torment that shall have no end and while you forget it you are posting to it and are almost there And can you be too careful for eternity Quest 12. Consider also but the infinite Joyes of Heaven and tell me Whether thou dost think they are not worthy the greatest cost or pains that thou canst be at to get them Dost thou think that Heaven is not worthy of the labour that is bestowed for it by the holyest Saints on earth Will it not requite them to the full Will any that comes thither repent that they obtained it at so dear a rate If now thou couldst speak with one of those Believers mentioned in Heb. 11. that lived as strangers and pilgrims on earth as seeking a better even a heavenly Countrey that preferred the reproach of Christ before the treasure of the world and chose affliction with the people of God before the pleasures of sin for a season that were tortured not accepting deliverance that they might receive a better resurrection that had tryal of cruel mâ—â—kings and scourgings and of bonds and imprisonments and were sâ—oned sawn asunder tempted slain with the sword wandred about in sheep-skins and goat-skins being destitute afflicted and tormented though men of whom the world was not worthy Would any one of these now tell you that they did or suffered too much for Heaven Or that it was not worth ten thousand times more If thy tongue dare say that Heaven is not worth the cost or trouble of a holy life or if thy life say so though thy tongue dare not thou judgest thy self unworthy of it and sentencest thy self unto damnation Quest 13. And are the torments of Hell so small and tolerable that thou thinkest a holy life too dear a means for to prevent them Dost thou believe the threatnings of the Lord that he will come in flaming fire to take vengeance on them that know not God and obey not the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his power 2 Thes 1. 8 9. and yet canst thou say What needs all this ado to scape such endless misery Thou wilt take any medicine to cure but the gowt or stone if once thou have felt them Thou wilt draw out a tooth to prevent the pain of it And is Holiness so hateful or grievous a thing to thee that thou wilt venture on Hell it self to avoid it If so much of Hell be in thy heart already blame none but thy self if thou have thy choice Quest 14. Why wast thou baptized into the Covenant of holiness to God the Father Son and Holy-Ghost if thou think it nâ—â—dless to perform thy Covenant A holy life is no more then in Baptism thou wast solemnly engaged too There didst thou renounce the flesh the world and the Devil and tookest God for thy portion and absolute Lord and gavest up thy self to be ruled by him and saved by Christ and sanctified by the holy Spirit and dost thou now say What needs all this ado Are we all by our Baptismal Vow engaged to a needless thing I tell thee there is not the holyest man on earth that doth any more then what he is bound to by the Covenant-Relations which he undertook in Baptism Quest 15. Moreover What an Hypocrite art thou to profess thy self a member of the Holy Catholick Church if Holiness which is the life of the Church seem needless to thee Why dost thou profess to believe and desire the Communion of Saints if the life of Saints seem needless to thee and thou wilt not have Communion with them in their sanctity Dost thou not plainly renounce thy Covenant and faith and duty when thou renouncest a holy life as a thing unnecessary Quest 16. Dost thou think or darest thou say that the bloody death and holy life of Jesus Christ were more then needs in order to thy salvation Unless thou be a prosessed Infidel I know thou darest not say so And if thy soul were worth the sufferings of the Lord of Life is it not worth all the cost and labour of thy duty Christ lived a life of perfect holiness he never sinned he fulfilled all righteousness he prayed all night and with greatest fervency preaching and doing good was his employment Though he hated Pharisaical superstition and the teaching for doctrines the Commandments of men and serving God according to mens traditions yet was there never so holy and pure and precise and strict and heavenly a life as Jesus Christ's And this was for our redemption and our example And darest thou say that this was needless Should we not endeavour to imitate our pattern Are they better that are likest Christ or they that are most unlike him And which dost thou think is liker Christ the holy or the unholy Sure we that fall so short of the example that Christ hath given us are far from being more diligent then needs when Christ went not too far nor was too strict that went so very far beyond us Quest 17. Look upon all the institutions of
encampeth round about them that fear him and delivereth them Psalm 91. 11 12. He shall give his Angels charge over thee to keep thee in all thy wayes They shall bear thee up in their hands lest thou dash thy foot against a stone Matth. 18 10. Take heed that ye despise not one of these little ones for I say unto you that in heaven their Angels do alwayes behold the face of my Father which is in heaven Heb. 1. 14. Are they not all ministring spirits sent forth to Minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation And have the wicked any such attendance for their security No but a fearful captivity to the Devil 7 Lastly that is the safest state where a man is safe from the Greatest Evil. Everlasting misery is the great evil which the Godly are initially saved from They are lyable to afflictions as well as others but not to Damnation and therefore they are safe They must be sick and die as well as others but they shall escape Eternal death Yea they are already passed from death to life 1 John 3. 14. and have Eternal life begun within them John 17. 3. He that hath the Son hath life 1 John 5. 12. John 5. 22. Verily verily I say unto you he that heareth my word and believeth on him that sent me hath everlasting life and shall not come into condemnation but is passed from death unto life ver 28 29. Marvail not at this for the hour is coming in which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice and shall come forth they that have done good to the Resurrection of life and they that have done evil to the Resurrection of damnation Psalm 1. 4 5 6. The ungodly are not so but are like the chaff which the wind driveth away therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the Judgement nor sinners in the Congregation of the righteous For the Lord knoweth the way of the Righteous but the way of the ungodly shall perish If yet you are unresolved whether Godliness be the only way of safety I dare say it is because you believe not the holy Scriptures For there the doubt is as fully decided as any one in all the world O how blessed is the state of the poorest most afflicted Saint that may alway say My soul is safe If my health or wealth or friends be gone yet am I safe from everlasting misery Other things I shall have as God seeth best for his honour and my spiritual good but salvation I may be sure of if I abide in Christ What needs he fear that hath escaped Hell But O the dreadful case of the ungodly that are passing to damnation when they never think of it Their Bodies may be strong their riches great and they may fare sumptuously every day Luke 16. 19. But O what a case are their poor souls in and where will they be when this mirth is ended Luke 16. 25. They are not safe from Hell one hour CHAP. VII Holiness is the only Honest Way WEE have tryed whether the way of Godliness or Ungodliness be the safest Let us next try which is the Honestest of which one would think we should never meet with a man so shameless as to make a question But experience telleth us that such there are yea and that they are very common Even in their reproaching of a Holy life they will joyn the boastings of their own Honesty and say Though we swear or are drunk now and then and make not such a stir about Gods service and our salvation yet we are as Honest as these preciser people that make more ado and censure us as ungodly As truly and wisely as if a common whore should say I am as Honest as these precise people that will not play the harlots as I do And as wisely as if a Thief should say Though I steal for need I am as honest as these precise people that will not steal But yet we have this advantage by these shameless boasts that still the Name of Honesty is in credit and the worst men honour it by pretending to it while they dishonour themselves by their renouncing the Thing it self and by the impudency of their pretences Honesty is nothing but true Virtue or the Moral Goodness of the Mind or Action An Honest man and a Good man is indeed all one 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with the Greeks one that is both inwardly virtuous and manifests it in the cleaness and integrity of his life in the sight of men All men for ought I can perceive would be accounted Honest This reputation Honesty hath among its vilest enemies that they approve the Name and would not appear to be its enemies till they have put some other Name upon it While they hate Honesty and persecute it they would be called Honest men themselves And therefore by the consent of all the world friends and foes that is the Best way which is the Honestest O that you would all but stand to this in the choosing of your course and in your daily practice Will you all agree upon a Holy life if I prove it past all doubt to be the Honestest O that you would Yea if I prove that there is no man truly Honest in the world that is not truly Godly If you would stand to this you would soon be changed Indeed it is nothing but but Dishonesty that we would have you changed from And if you will not stand to this but will refuse Honesty when you know it for shame lay by the Name of Honesty and wish not men to call you Honest any more Either be what you would be called or give men leave to call you as you are Let us come then to the tryal and see who is indeed the Honest man the Godly or the ungodly 1. I have already told you that God who is the most infallible Judge hath given his sentence on his peoples side If you will think your selves that it is not those that Thieves and Harlots call Honest that are so likely to be Honest as those that wise men and vertuous men call so We have then far greater Reason to conclude that it is not those that you call Honest that are so fit to be judged such as those that God calls so How say you will you not freely give us leave to take Gods judgements or Word before yours If not we will take leave And God calls all the ungodly by the name of Evil and Wicked men and the godly are they that he calleth Upright Good and Honest The whole Scripture you know if you know any thing of it speaketh in this language Luke 8. 15. It is they that hear the Word and keep it and bring forth fruit with patience that receive it into honest and good hearts This is the life that is acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour which is in all Godliness and Honesty These are inseparable Godliness
little longer in such impudent calumniations against me and other Ministers of Christ But know that thy day is coming and that for all these things thou shalt come to judgement and if thou justifie the ungodly yet remember that It is not good to have respect of persons in judgement and he that saith to the wicked Thou art Righteous the people shall curse him Nations shall abhorr him Prov. 24. 23 24. He that justifieth the wicked and he that condemneth the just even they both are abomination to the Lord. Prov. 17. 15. Wo unto them that call Evil Good and Good Evil that put darkness for light and light for darkness that put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter which justifie the wicked for reward and take away the righteousness of the righteous from him therefore as the fire devoureth the stubble and the flame consumeth the chaff so their root shall be rottenness and their blossom shall go up as the dust because they have cast away the Law of the Lord of Hosts and despised the word of the holy one of Israel Isa 5. 20 23 24. Let the malicious serpent accuse Job before God in the end it shall turn to his own confusion And if any of the Princes of the earth will by Doegs be provoked to destroy the Priests or by jealousie kindled by malicious whisperers be incited to do by the servants of Christ as they did by the Waldenses Bohemians Protestants in many places c. we will remember the memorable words of David 1 Sam. 26. 18 19. and let the sufferers imitate him in the submissive part Wherefore doth my Lord pursue after his servant for what have I done or what evil is in my hand Now therefore I pray thee let my Lord the King hear the words of his servant If the Lord have stirred thee up against me let him accept an offering but if it be the children of men cursed be they before the Lord for they have driven me out this day from abiding in the inheritance of the Lord saying Go serve other Gods By going where they are served HAving fully shewed you What Godliness is I now beseech thee Reader to enquire Whether this described case be thine Art thou Devoted to God without reserve as being not thine own but his And hast thou devoted all thou hast to him with thy self to be used according to his Will Art thou mere subjected to his Authority and observant of his Laws and Government then of mans and can his word do more with thee tâ—en the word of any mortal man or then the violence of thy lusts and passions Art thou heartily engaged to him as thy felicity and dost thou give up thy self to him in filial Love dependance and observance as to thy dearest friend and Father Dost thou highlyest esteem him and resolvedly choose him and sincerely seek him preferring nothing in thy Estimation Choice Resolution or Endeavour before him Try by these and the other particulars in the Description whether you are Godly or ungodly and do it faithfully for the day is at hand when the ungodly shall not stand in judgement nor sinners in the Assembly of the just Psal 1. 5. And besides the marks expressed in the description let me offer you some from the plain words of the Textâ— that you may see what God accounteth Godliness and consequently â—…w to judge your selves 1. In John 3. 3 5 6. it is written Verily except a â—…an be born again he cannot enter into the Kingdom of â—…od That which is born of the flesh is flesh and â—…at which is born of the Spirit is Spirit 2 Cor. 5. 17. 〈…〉 any man be in Christ he is a new creature old things â—…e passed away behold all things are become new â—…om 8. 9. If any man have not the spirit of Christ the â—…me is none of his From these Texts you see that a heart and life made new â—…y the Spirit of Jesus Christ is absolutely necessary to true Godliness 2. Psalm 119. 5. O that my wayes were directed to keep thy Statutes Rom. 7. 18. To will is present with â—…e Psalm 73. 25. Whom have I in heaven but thee â—nd there is none on earth c. Isa 26. 8. The desire of our soul is to thy name and to the remembrance of â—…hee From these and such like texts it is evident that The principal desires of a godly man and the choice of his will is to be what God would have him be 3. Psalm 1. 2. His delight is in the Law of the Lord and therein doth he meditate day and night 1 Pet. 2. 2. As new born babes desire the sincere milk of the Word that ye may grow thereby Luke 10. 42. From these and such like Texts it is manifest That all the Godly do Love the Word of God as the food of their souls and the director of their lives 4. Matth. 6. 20 21 33. Lay up for your selves a treasure in heaven c. For where your treasure is there will your hearts be also Seek first the Kingdom of God and his righteousness Matth. 7. 13. Luke 24. Enter in at the strait gate strive to enter in for many shall seek and shall not be able 2 Pet. 1. 10. Give diligence to make your calling and election sure Rom. 12. 11. From these and such texts you may discern that Godliness consisteth in such diligence for salvation as to seek it before any earthly thing and not to think the labour of a holy life too much for it 5. Rom. 8. 1 5 6 7 8 13. Gal. 5. 18 19. Read them and you will see that Godliness consisteth in living after the spirit and not after the flesh and in mortifying the deeds of the body by the spirit living not by sensuality but by Faith 6. John 3. 19 20. And this is the condemnation that light is come into the world and men loved darkness rather then light because their deeds were evil For every one that doth evil hateth the light neither cometh to the light lest his deeds should be reproved but he that doth truth cometh to the light c. 1 King 21. 7 8 And the King of Israel said to Jehoshaphat there is yet one man Micaiah by whom we may enquire of the Lord but I hate him for he doth not prophesie good concerning me but evil And Jehoshaphat said Let not the King say so From these and such like Texts you see that The Godly love the discovering light and the most searching faithful preacher but the ungodly cannot endure the light which sheweth them their sins nor love the Preachers that tell them of their sin and misery 7. 1 Cor. 13. John 13. 35. By this shall all men know that ye are my Disciples if you love one another 1 John 3. 14. We know that we have passed from death to life because we love the Brethren Psal 15. 4. In whose eyes a vile person is contemned but he honoureth them that
O for a few daies or hours more to make sure of this One thing which you should have spent your lives in making sure of Will you then think thus and yet can you now afford to cast away twenty or thirty years upon Nothing If Time be worth Nothing your Lives are worth Nothing And why should a man desire to Live for Nothing You Love your lives too much and yet will you so contemptuously cast them away He hath lost his life who hath lost the End of his life The loss of an hundred pound in money is not to your selves so great a loss as the loss of a dayes or hours time What then is the loss of so many years Did you ever well consider of this If you live a thousand years it is all lost if you have not spent it in making sure of the One thing Necessary For is not that lost and worse a thousand times then lost that is spent in crossing the End that it is given for and which is no comfort but terrour in the review and which leaveth no fruit but grief and disappointment Let me tell you if you hold on thus unto the end you will wish and wish a thousand times either that you had never had an hours time or else that you had had hearts to have better perceived the worth and use of it then to cast it away as you have done upon nothing It is but One thing that is worth your Time and Lives 2. Whatsoever else you have been doing you have lost all your Labour with your Time if this One thing Needful have been neglected No doubt you have been busie since you came into the world but to little purpose You might as well have been idle as so laboriously doing nothing No doubt many a journey you have rode and gone and many a hard daies labour you have taken and sharpened perhaps with care and grief But you have lost it all if it were an hundred times more if it have not been â—aid out upon the One thing necessary And is it not a pittiful thing that men of reason should vex themselves and coil their bodies and suffer hunger and thirst and weariness and make such a stir and pudder in the world and all for nothing and in a vain shew How many mornings have you risen to your labour and how many dayes and years have you spent in it and now it is all lost How many thoughts and fears and cares have possessed and pestred your minds and now they are all lost Some of you have followed your trades and some your husbandry and some have run up and down after recreations some of you have been scraping riches and some contriving to keep up their reputation and some to satisfie their appetites and live in pleasure and contentment to the flesh and now look back upon all that you have done and gotten and tell your selves whether all this be not lost yea alas much worse then lost If you be not ready to pass this conclusion at the very heart it is because your hearts are yet blinded and hardened in sin but God will soon bring that to your hearts that shall convince you of it If God have made use of any worldly sensual person of you for publick good of Church or state as men do of thorns for hedging to their lands or of bryars to stop a gap or of fire-wood to warm their family yet as to any durable benefit to your selves I may well say that all your Labour is lost And this is not all but the pains also that you have taken in your formal hypocritical Religion your hearing reading receiving Sacraments and pretended prayer all the thoughts that ever you had of death and judgement and the life to come and all that you have done with reservations and by halves for your own salvation this also is all lost Except as a less measure of misery may go for gain If you miss of the One thing necessary you do but lose your labour whatever else you seem to gain A great stir you make in seeking for preferment or dominion over others or about your lands your honours or your delights so great that your neighbours can scarce live quietly by you and the Kingdom cannot be quiet for some of you nor your own consciences be quiet within you for the desperate work that you engage them in which they know must be heard of another day And when all is done you will find you have been but hunting of a feather You would see this now if God would open your eyes by grace but if you miss of so seasonable an information you will see it too late in the land of darkness When death hath opened your eyes and your impenitent souls do suddenly awake in another world you will understand that you made all this stir but in your sleep As busily and seriously as you acted the parts of Lords and Ladies of Gentlemen Tradesmen or Husbandmen in the world if you did not seriously and first do the work of true Believers for the world to come you will then find too late that your labour is lost and all was acted but as in a dream Do you believe this now or do you not If you do will you yet go on If you do not believe it shew me now what you have gotten by all the stir that you have made in the world that will follow you one step further then the grave and that you can say shall be your own to morrow If you were to die this hour will it be any lasting comfort to you that you have laboured to be Rich or Honourable or that you have attained it or that you had your glut of sensual delights and a merry life as to the fleshly pleasure as long as it would last Will you dye the more comfortably for any of this or much the less That yet you are alive is the great mercy of God and not to be ascribed to any of these And when you cease to live then these will be your greif and torment Beloved Hearers I have no desire the Lord knows to discompose your minds or to disquiet you with any molesting unnecessary scruples nor causelesly to dishonour either you or your imployments But I must needs say that it is a dolefull case that men in their wits should spend a life of precious time and also a great deal of care and labour in doing Nothing and much worse then Nothing when they have a work of everlasting consequence to do and they know that the Devils chiefest hopes do consist in the success of these diversions I must seriously profess to you that I am constrained by the word and teachings of God and by undenyable reason it self to look upon all the labour of your lives the highest and the busiest but as the picking of straws or playing with a feather or riding upon a staff or a hobby-horse or such like actions as
clear in it self and much more clear how few do we prevail with Is not the Question Whether God or the Creature Holiness or Sin Earth or Heaven Short or Everlasting pleasures should be preferred as plain to a wise man as any of those that I mentioned before Is it not as plain a case to a man of judgement Whether Holiness with Everlasting joys be better then fleshly pleasures with damnation as whether a Kingdom be better then a Jayle or Gold then dirt or health then sickness Yet do your salvations lie upon this Question this easie Question I must again repeat it All your salvations lie upon the practical resolution of this easie Question Be but Resolved once that God is Best for you and Heaven is Best for you and accordingly make your Resolute Choice and faithfully Prosecute it and God will be Yours Heaven will be yours as sure as the Promise of God is true But if you will not Choose God and Glory as your Best but will Choose the world and simple pleasures as Better for you you shall have no better then you chose and shall suffer a double condemnation for neglecting and refusing so great salvation You hear now by mens talk and you see by their lives that the world is divided upon this Question What it is that is Best for a man and which is his Best and Wisest course One part and the greater think in their hearts that present prosperity is best because they think that the promised happiness of the life to come is a thing uncertain or iâ— there be such a thing they may have it after the pleasures of sin These are the Infidels Another part have a superficial dead Opinion that Heaven and Holiness are Best but the Love of the flesh and the world lyeth deeper at their hearts and beareth the greater sway in their lives and these are the Hypocrites that is Christians in Opinion and Profession and so much of their Practice as will stand with their fleshly interest but Infidels in their Practical estimation and at the Heart and in the reserves and secret bent of their lives Another part being illuminated and sanctified from above Believe the Certainty and Excellency of Glory and see the vanity and vexation of this life and taste the sweetness of the Love of God and perceive the Necessity and sweetness of that Holiness which others so abhor and hereupon give up themselves to God and set themselves to seek for the Immortal treasure and make it the principal care of their hearts and business of their lives to escape damnation and live with Christ in endless Glory All the world consisteth of these three sorts of men Infidels Hypocrites and true Believers Now the Question is Which of these three are in the right Both the other do condemn the Hypocrite that halteth between two opinions and One thinks that Baal is God that the World is Best and therefore he gives up himself to it and the other thinks that The Lord is God and Heaven is best and therefore he gives up himself to it And if it would do any thing with those that doubt towards the turning of the scales to tell you which side Christ is on it s told you here in my Text as plain as the tongue of man can speak One thing is Needful Mary hath chosen that Good part which shall not be taken away from her THe Doctrine which I am now to handle to you from the plain words of the Text is this Doct. That those that prefer the Learning of the word of Christ to guide them by Holiness to Everlasting Happiness before all the lower matters of this world are they that choose the Better part even that which shall never be taken from them If now the word of Christ alone would serve your turn I had done my work I needed not to go any further You would be now resolved that Heaven and Holiness is best and would set your hearts and lives to seek it and so it would be your own for ever But this Text hath long stood in the Gospel and men have heard and read it often and yet the most are not perswaded and therefore I must try to open it a little farther to you and plead it with you and work the Reason of it upon your minds Reader our business is but to enquire What it is that is Best for Man to set his heart on and seek after in his Life and Enjoy for ever I say it is the Everlasting Enjoyment of God in Heaven For Christ saith so If thou think otherwise let us debate the case If thou believe as I do Live as thou professest to believe If men did but deeply and soundly know what it is that is best for them it would set right their hearts and lives and make them happy But not knowing this is it that keepeth them from God and Holiness and everlastingly undoes them Though I have often opened this heretofore on other occasions yet my present subject now requireth 1. That I tell you What that is that here is called The Good part 2. What it is that is set against it and by fleshly minds preferred before it And having briefly opened these two things I shall come to the Comparison and shew you which is the better part 1. That which Christ calls here that good part is 1. Principally the end of man or our everlasting Happiness with God in Heaven 2. Subordinately the Means by which it is attained 3. That Happiness which is the end comprehendeth in it these particulars which if you distinctly apprehend you will much the better understand the nature and excellency of it 1. The true Believer hath the small beginnings and earnests and foretastes of the Everlasting Blessedness in this Life in his approaches to God and living upon him by Faith and Love and â—â— his believing apprehensions of the Favour of God the Grace â—â— Christ and the Happiness which in Heaven he shall enjoy for ever 2. At death the souls of true Believers do go to Christ and enter upon a state of Happiness 3. At the last day the body shall be raised and united to the soul and the Lord Jesus Christ will come in glory to judge the world where he will openly absolve and justifie the Righteous when he condemneth the ungodly and will be glorified in his Saints and admired in all them that do believe and the Saints shall also judge the world and be themselves adjudged to everlasting Glory 4. Their everlasting habitation shall be in the Heavens even near unto God and in the presence of his Glory 5. Their company will be only Blessed Spirits even the holy Angels and glorified Saints with whom we shall be One Body and constitute the New Jerusalem and be perfectly one in God for ever 6. Their Bodies shall be perfected and made immortal spiritual incorruptible and glorious bodies shining as the Stars in the Celestial Firmament No more subject
Conscience sake And though the errour and commands of Councils and Parliaments excuse not à tote an illiterate Laicke that understandeth not those matters yet surely à tanto it is some excuse And sometime oppression maketh a wise man mad Eccles 7. 7. And sometime impatience prevaileth with the weak to do things unwarrantable humane passion blindeth Reason sometime Temptations prevail in this as in other cases And sometimes Hypocrites that never had any true Religion do shew their carnal dispositions and unmortified lusts and passions and pride by their rebellion against their lawful Governours and then Religion must bear the blame of the actions of those that counterfeit Religion and of those crimes which it doth most prohibite and condemn In a word Be the accusation against any particular person just or unjust nothing is more sure and clear then that he is most unjust that will charge the Christian Religion as guilty of Countenancing any Rebellions Conspiracies sedition disobedience faction or divisions Christ went before us in his own example to pay tribute to Casar and commanded us to give to Caesar the things that are Câ—sars and their false accusing him and condemning him as an offender against Caesar did no whit move him from the duty of his state of humiliation What can be more against all Treason and perfidiousness then that holy doctrine which commandeth us the exactest performance of every lawful promise much more of our Oaths and duties of Allegiance what can be more against Rebellions then that holy doctrine which teacheth us a life of patience and meekness condemning private revenge and commanding us rather to turn the other cheek to him that smiteth us and to give our coat to him that taketh away our cloak and go two miles with him that would compell us to go one that is to suffer yet more rather then revenge our selves or break peace or order or raise wars to escape such injuries It is a crucified Christ that conquered by suffering that is your example And our Religion is but our Conformity to him in his sufferings and his holiness He hath made it part of our duty to himself to obey Kings and Rulers and all Superiours not only the good but the froward and to take it patiently if we suffer for well-doing and not to return so much as a reviling dishonouring word or murmuring rebellious thought It is not fighting for our selves but following him with the Cross and forsaking all that we have that Christ hath made the work of his disciples and the necessary condition of his promise of salvation Luke 14. 33. There is no Master in all the world that so strictly commandeth Patience and forbearance and forgiving and Love and Peace and submission to one another as Jesus Christ doth He sets the hearts of all his servants on another Kingdom and tells them they have greater things to mind then riches or honours or domination upon earth He taketh the bone of contention from before them and bids them leave such things as these to the men of the world that have their portion in this life You may as honestly say that the Sun is the greatest cause of darkness as that Christ and holiness are the cause of seditions rebellions treasons or perfidiousness in the world All the world set together hath not done so much as he hath done against them If men threaten hanging and quartering to such offences Christ threatneth damnation in hell fire to them And would you wish him to inflict a sharper punishment or more severely to manifest his hatred of the crimes I tell you therefore if you should find Rebellion and Sedition among Christians it is but as you may find corruption in the bodies of the living which is contrary to life and health and to be found much more among the dead I am not here pleading for individual persons but for Christianity and Godliness If any professed Christians forsake the way of Patience and Subjection and turn to Rebellion and disloyalty they do far forsake Religion and Godliness and much more wrong and offend their heavenly master then their King and Governours Plead who will for the wickedness of such men for my part I will not I am sure Christ will not plead for their sin which he condemneth He may justifie them from it upon repentance but he will never justifie them for it and in it It is not because they are godly but for want of Godliness that any men have ever been guilty of rebellions or resisting Lawfull powers As Dr. Ward hath fully proved in his Sermon on Rom. 13. 2. Nothing more tendeth to the ruine of Rulers and people then to hearken to the Devil and the Enemies of Holiness that would perswade the world into a conjunction with them in the Enmity against the way of Godliness and the faithful servants of the Lord upon pretence that they are adversaries to Governours and Government It is a weighty truth that the foresaid Doctor begins his Sermon with Among all the stratagems of the Devil tending to the undermining of Religion and the subversion of the souls of men though there cannot be any more unreasonable yet there was never any more unhappily succesful then the creating and fomenting an Opinion in the world that Religion is an Enemy to Government and the bringing sincerity and zeal in Religion into jealousie and disgrace with the Civil Powers It was by this Jealousie blown into the heads of the High Priests and the Sanhedrim amongst the Jews and of Herod and Pontius Pilate that Christ himself was accused condemned and executed on a tree By this the Apostles were haled before the Governours of Provinces forced from one City to fly to another for this they endured bonds and sundry kinds of death It was through this fancy that the Christians for three hundred years together endured the rage of Heathen Emperours being destitute afflicted and tormented Our Lord Christ was traduced as an enemy to Caesar a man refractory to the Roman Laws and a Non-conformist to the Religion and Laws of his Countrey Thus and more that Author So that it is no new thing for the most innocent and holy and excellent persons to suffer as enemies to the Government where they lived nay it hath been the common case nor is it strange to hear Religion and Holiness charged with these crimes which they are most against As for the malicious slanders of the Papists against the Reformed Churches as if they had promoted all their Reformations by Rebellion they have been confuted sufficiently by many At this time I shall only desire the Reader that would be satisfied in this and understand the Protestant doctrine in these points to read Bishop Bilsons Difference between Christian subjection and unchristian Rebellion Especially pag. 382. and from 494. to 522. Also Hookers Eccles Polit. the last Book lately published And if he would know whether it be an Article of the very Religion of the
these is certainly the case of the sanctified and the other of the unsanctified Gal. 3. 10 13. As many as are of the works of the Law are under the Curse for it is written Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things that are written in the book of the Law to do them Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the Law being made a Curse for us Rom. 3. 23. For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God And Mark 4. 12. shews that the unconverted have not their sins forgiven them Joh. 3. 18. He that believeth on him is not condemned but he that believeth not is condemned already And Act. 26. 18. To open their eyes and turn them from darkness to light and from the power of Satan unto God that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among them that are sanctified by faith that is in me Rom. 8. 1. There is no Condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus that walk not after the flesh but after the spirit Abundance more such passages of holy Scripture do assure us that all the unsanctified are unpardoned and all the sanctified are Justified and delivered from the Curse And which of these are in the safer state Did one of you owe ten thousand pounds more then he were worth or had you committed twenty known selonies or murders would you think your selves safe without a pardon Would you not be looking behind you and afraid of allmost every man you see lest he came to apprehend you O what a case is that man in that hath so many thousands sins to answer for and hath such a load of guilt upon his soul and so many terrible threatnings of the Law in force against him Do you not fear every hour lest death arrest you and bring you to the prison of the bottomless pit But the sanctified is delivered from this danger A thousand sins indeed were against us but we have a pardon of them all to shew In Christ we have Redemption through his blood the forgiveness of sins Col. 1. 14. The law hath nothing now against us and therefore we are safe 4. Those are safer that are dearly beloved of the Lord and reconciled to him and taken for his Children then those that are his Enemies and hated by him and under his displeasure But most Certainly the former is the state of all the sanctified and the later is the state of the ungodly You shall see both in the words of God Psal 5. 4 5. Thou art not a God that hath pleasure in wickedness neither shall evil dwell with thee The foolish shall not stand in thy sight thou hatest all the workers of iniquity Psal 7. 10 11. My Defence is of God which saveth the upright in heart God judgeth the Righteous and God is angry with the wicked every day Psal 45. 7. Thou lovest righteousness and hatest wickedness Luk. 19. 27. Those mine enemies that would not I should raign over them bring them hither and stay them before me Ephes 2. 3. We were by nature the children of wrath A hundred more such places shew you the state of the unsanctified But how different is the case of the renewed upright soul 2 Cor. 6. 16 17 18. Yee are the Temple of the living God as God hath said I will dwell in them and walk in them and I will be their God and they shall be my people Wherefore come out from among them and be ye separate saith the Lord and touch not the unclean thing and I will receive you and will be a Father unto you and ye shall be my sons and daughters saith the Lord Almighty Job 1. 12. But as many as received him to them gave he power to become the sons of God Rom. 8. 16 17. The spirit it self beareth witness with our spirit that we are the children of God And if Children then heirs heirs of God and joynt heirs with Christ Mal. 3. 17. And they shall be mine saith the Lord of hosts in that day when I make up my Jewels and I will spare them as a man spareth his own son that serveth him Heb. 8. 12. I will be merciful to their unrighteousness and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more Col. 1. 21 22. And you that were sometime alienated and enemies in your minds by wicked works yet now hath he reconciled in the body of his flesh through death to present you holy and unblameable and unreproveable in his sight Psal 32. 1 2. Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven whose sin is covered blessed is the man to whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity and in whose spirit there is no guile Zech. 2. 8. He that toucheth you toucheth the apple of mine eye Judge now by these plain expressions form the Lord who it is that is in the safer state the godly or the ungodly Is he the safer that is hated by the God of heaven or he that is most dearly loved by him He that is under his displeasure or he that is his delight Why man if God be against thee thou art no where safe not in the strongest Castle not in the greatest Army not in the highest dignity not in the merryest company Thou knowest not but a Commission is gone out for death to strike thee in thy next recreation or fit of mirth How knowest thou but death is ready to strike while thou art eating or drinking or talking or sleeping Thou hast no security from an angry God Till he be reconciled thou art nowhere safe This may be thy fatal day or night for ought thou knowest And if once the mortal blow be struck and thy soul be taken from thy body unrenewed O man where then wilt thou appear O wonderful stupidity that thou dost not eat thy bread in fear and do thy work in fear and sleep in fear and live in fear till thou be sanctified But to the soul that hath God for his security what can be dangerous or what condition while he keeps close to God can be unsafe The Father that gave us unto Christ is greater then all and no man can take us out of his hands Joh. 10. 28 29. Conquer Heaven and conquer the Saints There is their City their garrison their conversation Phil. 1. 20. Heb. 11. 10 16. what enemy what policie what power can endanger him that God will save and hath undertaken for We were never safe one day or hour till we were friends with God Deut. 33. 27. The Eternel God is thy refuge and underneath are the everlasting arms Psal 46. 1 2 5 7. God is our refuge and strength a very present helâ— in trouble therefore will not we fear though the earth be removed and though the mountains be carryed into the midst of the sea God is in the midst of her she shall not be moved God shall help her and that right early The Lord of hosts is with us the God of Jacob is
and Honesty 1 Tim. 2. 2 3. Indeed the Greek word here is that which signifieth gravity and seemliness of behaviour but that which is frequently translated good is it which signisieth the truly Honest And you know none of the ungodly are ever called Good in Scripture but clean contrary Prov. 11. 6. The righteousness of the upright shall deliver them but transgressâ—rs shall be taken in their own naughtiness So vers 18. 19 20. The wicked worketh a deceitful work but to him that soweth righteousness shall be a sure reward As righteousness tendeth to life so he that pursueth evil doth it to his own death They that are of a froward heart are an abomination to the Lord but such as are upright in their way are his delight Everywhere you see how God abhorreth the ungodly and extolleth those that love and fear him Christ calleth the ungodly Evil men that â—â—t of the evil treasure of their hearts do bring forth evil things Matth. 12. 35. All is evil the life evil the heart evil and the man evil Prov. 12. 26. The Righteous is more excellent then his neighbour but the way of the wicked seduceth them And Psalm 16. David calleth the godly The excellent in whom is all his delight It is an excellent spirit that is in them Dan. 3. 12. 14 and 63. and an excellent way in which they go 1 Cor. 12. 31. and an excellent knowledge which the spirits illumination causeth them to attain Phil. 3. 18. Ephes 3. 18 19. You have Gods judgement of the case if that will satisfie you who it is that is the Best and Honestest man the Holy or the unholy 2. Do you think that man is an Honest man that will deny you your due and rob you of all that is your own Or rather is not the Just man the Honest man that will give every man his own I know you will give your voices for the latter O then take heed lest you condemn your selves If you be not Holy your own testimony doth condemn you For it is only the Godly that give God his own when the ungodly rob him of it Hast thou not thy Life and Time and Maintenance from God Hast thou not thy Reason and thy Affections and all thy faculties from him And should not all thou hast be employed for him Thou art a dishonest man that grudgest yea denyest him one day in seven when thou owest him all Thou art a dishonest man that givest away thy Makers due unto his vilest enemies That wastest thy means or strength on sin that spendest thy precious time on vanity that abusest his creatures to the satisfying of thy lusts and that livest to thy flesh when thou shouldst live to God Thou robbest him of all which thou givest to his enemies and of all which thou dost not use for his service It is less dishonesty to rob thy Master that trusteth thee with his goods then to rob the Lord that trusteth thee with thy time and parts and all things O blind unworthy sinners What makes you think him an honest man that robbeth his Maker or denyeth him his own when you call him a dishonest man that robbeth but such silly worms as you that in respect of God have nothing of your own Art thou better then God that it should be called dishonesty to wrong thee and no dishonesty to wrong him or deny him that which is his own God hath an absolute Title to you and that on more accounts then one You are his own as you are his creatures All souls are mine saith the Lord Ezek. 18. 4. And he hath Title to thee by Redemption as well as by Creation For to this end Christ dyed and rose and revived that he might be Lord of the deâ—d and of the living Rom. 14. 9. We are not our own we are bought with a price and therefore should glorifie God in our bodies and our spirits which are his 1 Cor. 6. 19 20. For if one dyed for all then were all dead that they which live should not henceforth live to themselves but to him that dyed for them and rose again 2 Cor. 5. 14 15. And as you your selves are Gods own as he is your Creator and Redeemer so all that you have is his own as the bestower or as your Master that trusteth it in your hands Exod. 19. 5. Now therefore if ye will obey my voice indeed and keep my Covenant then ye shall be a peculiar treasure to me above all people for all the earth is mine And saith God to Job Job 41. 11. What soever is under the whole heaven is mine Psalm 50. 10 11 12. Every beast of the Forrest is mine the wild beasts of the field are mine the world is mine and the fulness thereof 1 Cor. 4. 7. What hast thou which thou didst not receive Thou hast not a minute of time which thou owest not to God nor a thought nor a word nor a farthing of thy estate And is it not the basest injustice and dishonesty to give these to thy flesh and deny them to him and think his service an unnecessary thing If thou wilt give the world and thy lusts any thing let it be that which thou canst truly call thine own As God saith to the Idolators Ezek. 16. 18 19. Thou hast set mine oyl and mine incense before them my meat also which I gave thee c. so may he say â—o thee It is his Time which thou hast consumed in idleness and in sinful delights and his Provision by which thou hast â—ed thy lusts But the sanctified man is devoted to God His study is to give him his own All the business of his life which you account his over-much strictness and preciseness is nothing but his Honesty to God in giving him his own You look your horse should travail for you and your Oxe should labour for you and your servant work for you because they are your own And shall not we give up all that we have to God that are much more his own Will you hang them that take your Own from you and count them Honest that deal worse with God Say not If Christ were here we would give it him For he hath told you how you should use all his talents in his Laws and if you deny them to the poor or any holy use that he requireth them you deny them unto him Read Mat. 25. 10. 40 41 42. 3. Do you think that an unnatural man is an Honest man One that will abuse his Father or Mother and scorn the bowels from which he sprung All the world is agreed on it that such are dishonest Honour thy Father and Mother is called the first Commandment with promise Exod. 21 17. He that curseth his Father or Mother shall surely be put to death See Prov. 20. 20. 30. 17. The eye that mocketh at his Father and despiseth to obey his Mother the Ravens of the valley shall pick it out and the young
2 8 9. Though the abode of the godly in the flesh is usually more needful to those about them yet to themselves their death is gain and therefore they have cause to desire to depart and be with Christ as being far better Phil. 1. 21 23 24. For sin which is the sting of death is mortified and the curse of the Law which is the strength of it is relaxed or null fied to us by the Gospel so that the Believer may triumph and say O death where is thy sting O grave where is thy victory 1 Cor. 15. 55 56. and to give thanks to God that giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ vers 57. Verily I would not exchange my part though alas too small or dark a part in this one priviledge of true Believers for all the wealth and dominions on earth O the face of Death will soon make the Glory of all your greatness to vanish and the beauty of your flourishing estates to wither and all that you now glory in to appear as nothing And then how glad would you be to change Portions with the holy servants of the Lord whom you now despise When once you hear Thou fool this night shall they require thy soul and whose then are all those things that thou hast provided Luke 12. 20. then in a moment you will change your minds and cry out of the world as nothing worth and wish you had busied your hearts and hands in laying up a better treasure This is one difference O â—ngodly wretch between a holy servant of God and thee Death cannot undo him but it will undo thee It cannot take his Riches from him for his God his Christ his Holiness the Promises are his Riches but it will separate thee and thy wealth for ever It will put an end to all his troubles and fears and griefs and it will put an end to all thy prosperity and to all thy mirth and hope for ever A godly man dare die or if he ignorantly fear it yet shall it be the end of all his fears but thou darest not die and yet thou must or if thou ignorantly hope of a happiness after it yet will it nevertheless end all thy hopes O what a mercy is it to be ready to die 10. But the great unspeakable Riches of the Saints is in the Life to come We have here the Hope and the fore-taste but it is only there that we shall have our Portion You see what a poor Christian is according to his outward appearance But you see not what he will be to eternity There is the Kingdom for which we hope and for which we run and wait and suffer If God be true and his Gospel true then Heaven shall be the Portion of the sanctâ—fied But if it were otherwise then we would confess their hopes are vain Heaven is our Riches or we have none There have we laid up all our Hopes and in these Hopes we will live and die as knowing they will not make us ashamed Rom. 5. 5. 9. 33. 1 John 2. 28. We believe that we shall live with Christ in glory and shine as stars in the Firmament of our Father and be made like to the Angels of God and shall see his face and praise his name and live in his everlasting Love and Joy For all this he himself hath promised us 1 Thes 4. 17. 18. Daâ— 12. 3. Mat. 13. 43. Luk. 20 36. Rev. 22. 4. Mat. 25. 21. And now poor worldling what is all your Gain and Riches in comparison of the least of these Do you think in your judgements that there is any comparison Or rather doth not sin and the world even brutifie you and make you lay by the use of your reason and live as if you knew not what you know Your Treasure is all visible when ours is unseen and therefore I may bid you bring it forth and let us see it whether indeed it be better then the Treasure of the Saints Let us see what that is that is better then God and everlasting glory What! is a little fleshly ease or mirth a little meat and drink and pleasure a little more money or space of ground to use then your neighbours have are these the things that you will change for Heaven and preser before the Lord that made you O poor miserable sinners Are you not told that you have your good things here but what will you have hereafter when this is gone Luke 16. 25. When your wealth is gone and your mirth is gone your souls are immortal and therefore your misery and horrour will continue and never be gone As the wealth of the godly is within them and above the reach of their enemies and surer then yours so is it the more durable even everlasting When all your Riches are upon the wing even ready to be gone and leave you in sorrow when you are most highly valuing them you have it now but it is gone to morrow And what is the Hope of the Hypocrite though he hath gained when God taketh away his soul Will God hear his cry when trouble cometh upon him Job 27. 8 9. Let the words of Christ decide the Controversie if indeed you take him for your Judge Mat. 16. 2â— 25 26 27. If any man will come after we let him deny himself and take up his Cross and follow me For whosoever will save his life shall lose it and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it For what is a man profited if he shall gain the whole world and lose his own soul Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul For the Son of man shall come in the Glory of his Father with his Angels and then he shall reward every man according to his works Well sirs you that are all for Getting and for wealth judge now if you have not lost your Reason whether a Holy or unholy â— Heavenly or an Earthly life be the more Profitable way I would not draw you to any thing that you should lose by If I speak not for your Gain reject my words as contemptuously as you please But if I do then be not against your own commodity Will such silly Gain as the world affords you do so much with you as it doth and shall not the Heavenly inheritance do more shall all this stir be made in the world for that which you are ready to leave behind you and will you not lay up a Treasure in heaven where rust and moaths corrupt not and where you may live for ever Matth. 6. 20. What profit now have all those millions of souls that are gone from earth by all the wealth they here possessed Hear sinners and bethink you in the name of God You are leaving Earth and stepping into Eternity and where then should you lay up your Riches Would you rather have your Portion where you must stay but a few days then where you must
be grievous to them 6. The very Bodily informities of Believers are a constant help to keep them humble They have all this treasure but is earthen vessels 2 Cor. 4. 7. Their souls are here so poorly lodged in corruptible Tabernacles of earth and so meanly cloathed with frail diseased mortal flesh that it is madness to be proud 7. And the many and great afflictions of the godly are medicines that are purposely given them by their Physicion to cure Pride and keep them humble Why else must their sufferings be so many and why must they daily bear the Cross but that they may be conformed to the image of Christ 8. And to the same end it is that God doth let loose upon them so many enemies All Satans temptations and the worlds allurements and vexations and all their disappointments here and all the scorns and mocks of the ungodly and the censures and slanders of wicked tongues and often bitter persescutions what are they but the bitter medicines of God permitted and ordered by him though cansed by the Devil and wicked men to save the servants of the Lord from the sin and danger of being lifted up Do you say that their Honour will make them proud Why you that thus oppose them and despise them are â—uring them of their pride and do not know it as Scullions scoure the rust off the vessels for their Masters use and as Leeches draw out the blood that causeth the disease and as the Jews by their sin promoted the Redemption of the world by the death of Christ When God seeth his servants in danger of being lifted up above measure he oft sendeth a messenger of Satan who may be an Executioner of Gods chastisements to buffet them 2 Cor. 12. 7. Sometimes by slanders sometime by reproaches sometime by imprisonments or greater sufferings and sometimes by horrid troublesom temptations 9. The very foresight of death it self is a humbling means and the last enemy Death is yet unconquered and our Bodies must corrupt in dust and darkness and be kept in the grave as common earth till the Resurrection that the soul may not grow proud that hath such a body 11. And the Day of Judgement is so described to us in the Scripture as tends to keep the soul in awe and in Humility To think of such a day and such a reckoning before such a God me 〈…〉 should humble us 11. And our Absolution and Glorification at that day is promised us now but conditionally though God will see that the condition be performed by all that he will save And therefore the poor soul is oft so far to seek about the certain sincerity of his own Faith and Repentance that most of the godly are kept in fears and doubtings to the death Yea and Humility and Self-denyal are part of this Condition And all their Honour and Glory with Christ is promised to the Humble only Humility is commanded them in the Precept Humility is it that they are exhorted to by the Ministers And Pride is threatened with everlasting wrath and described as the Devils image So that Holiness hath all the advantages against Pride that can be here expected 12. To conclude the Godly know that as they have nothing but from God so they have nothing but for God so that their own Honour is for him more then for themselves and it is essential to their Holiness to make God their end and set him highest and referr all to his Pleasure and Glory So that you see now that we may Honour them that fear the Lord Psalm 15. 4. without being guilty of making them proud and that we must not deny them the Honour that God hath given them as their due for fear of their being proud of it Though this as all things else must be prudently managed to particular persons according to their various states And therefore let me here warn all you that profess the fear of God Take heed lest you be proud of any thing that God hath Honoured you with For if you be you see what an Army of Reasons and Means you sin against and consequently how great your sin will be And your consciences and the world shall be forced to justifie God and his Holy wayes and to prove against you that it was not long of them that you were proud and that none in the world was more against it then God and Holiness and that it was not because you were so Religious but because you were no more Religious And if Pride of Knowledge Gifts or whatsoever be unmortified in you it will certainly prove that you are none of the sanctified when your profession of Sanctity will never prove that Sanctity was a cause or confederate in your sin AND now I have shewed you the Honour of Godliness let us briefly and but briefly consider of your Honour that reject it and see then whether the godly or ungodly are more Honourable 1. Ungodly men have the Basest Master in the world Would you know who Let Christ be Judge John 8. 44. Ye are of your father the Devil and the lusts of your father you will do 2 Tim. 2. 26. They are taken captive by the Devil at his will that is to do his will It is he that stirreth you up to filthy talking to speak against Godliness to curse and swear and you do his will His will is that you should neglect a holy life and you do his will His will is that you live not after the spirit but after the flesh and you do his will O poor souls Do you think it is only Witches that expresly Covenant with him that are his miserable servants Alas it is you also if you do his will For if you will believe either God or common reason to whom you yield your selves servants to obey his servants you are to whom you obey whether of sin unto death or of obedience unto righteousness Rom. 6. 16. The godly themselves were the servants of sin till they obeyed from the heart the doctrine of the Lord v. 17. And are you not come to fair preferment to be the Devils drudges Though he should cloath your Bodies with Purple and fine linnen and feed you sumptuously every day yet indeed you are no better as the case of that miserable man may tell you Luke 16. It is the greatest Baseness to have so Base a Master 2. And it is but an ignoble Base de sign that the ungodly carry on in the world What is it but to provide for and please their flesh It aimeth at nothing beyond this life And a beast can eat and drink and sleep and play and satisfie his lust as much as they A swine can carry a mouth full of straw to his lodging and a bird can build a nest for her young ones And what do ungodly men more in the world whether Gentlemen or Beggars the flattered Gallants or the poor day-labourers if they be not such as first seek Heaven
the honey and the hony-comb v. 14. 16. I have rejoyced in the way of thy testimonies as in all riches I will delight my self in thy statutes I will not forget thy word 24. Thy testimonies are my delight and my counsellors 47. I will delight my self in thy Commandments which I have loved and I will meditate in thy statutes 72. The Law of thy mouth is better to me then thousands of Gold and Silver 92. Unless thy Law had been my delight I had perished in my affliction 93. I will never forget thy precepts for with them thou hast quickned me 111. Thy testimonies have I taken as an heritage for ever for they are the rejoycing of my heart 117. I love thy commandments above Gold yea above fine Gold 162. I rejoyce at thy word as one that findeth great spoile 165. Great peace have they that love thy Law and nothing shall offend them I should but weary you to recite one quarter of the expressions of holy men in Scripture concerning the sweetness and Pleasures which they found in the Law of God In a word it is the work and marke of the Blessed man that His delight is in the Law of the Lord and in his Law doth he meditate day and night Psal 1. 1 2. Do you think that an unpleasant tedious life that doth consist in such employment 2. Another Holy Duty is Prayer both secret and with others in familie and publike Assemblies And do you think it is a grievous tedious work for a needy soul to beg of God that is so ready to relieve him For a guilty soul to pray to God that is so ready to forgive him for a sinful soul to return to God and confess his sins and beg for mercy that is so ready to meet him and entertain him for a Loving soul to converse with God when there is a mutual complacency between them Is it grievous for a child to speak to his Father or are you weary of the presence of your dearest friend What is there in holy prayer that should grieve or weary us sure it is not his company that we speak to For it is his presence that makes Heavenâ— And sure it is not the employment For it is but Asking and asking for the best and choicest thing and asking in our necessities for that which we must have or we are undone for ever And is it unpleasant to pray to a bounteous God in our necessity and that for the best and pleasantest things Perhaps there may be some of you that think it is but labour lost and that you could better spend those hours and that God regardeth not our prayers and that indeed we speed never the better for them and therefore you have no pleasure in them And no wonder If you are Atheists and believe not that there is a God you cannot love him or rejoyce in him If you believe not his Promises how should they give you any comfort If you believe not that he regardeth Prayers no wonder if you have no heart to pray They that say It is in vain to serve the Lord and it is no profit to us to keep his ordinances Mal. 3. 14. Will also say what a weariness is it Mal. 1. 13. and will give him but a lame and lifeless service If you did believe your friend to be your enemy you would have small pleasure in him Mis-conceits may easily make you loath the things that are most delightful The thoughts of Heaven it self yield little Pleasure to them that believe not that there is a Heaven or what it is The Light is not pleasant to the blind nor any object of our tast or smel to those that have lost these senses Is musick unpleasant because it delighteth not the deaf For shame do not charge the sweet and blessed ways of God with that which is the fruit of your own corruption If your lungs be rotten you may be out of breath with speaking the most delightful words or walking in the most pleasant fields or gardens But the cause of the weariness is within you If you have the hearts of Infidels or graceless stupid worldly sinners you are so unfit to approach the most Holy God in holy prayer that I marvail not if you go to it as a Bear to the stake as an Ox to the yoke or as an offender to the stocks For the God that you pray to is a bater of all the workers of iniquity and a consuming fire and therefore no wonder if his terrours should meet you and leave you but little delight in prayer Though its wonder that they do not follow you and meet you in all your ways and leave you less delight in the omission of it But if you had the hearts of believing holy men and had tasted in prayer what they have tasted and had their experience of the success you would then be easily perswaded that prayer is neither a Vain nor an unpleasnt work Surely it is not unpleasant to a burdened soul to dis-burden it self before the Lord nor to a sinner that hath felt the weight the smart the sting of sin to cry for mercy and healing to him that is able and willing to shew mercy nor iâ— it unpleasant for him that knows the worth of grace and glory to lie upon his knees in begging them of the Lord. All those that have felt how good it is to draw near to God had rather have leave to pray in hope then to please their senses with any delights that earth affordeth There is force in Prayer through the grace that hath appointed and doth accompany it to procure comfort to the distressed mind and safety to them that are in danger relief to them that are in want and strength to them that are in weakness Prayer is good for all things that are good and good against all things that are evil It is good against temptations dangers enemies and sin It is good against sorrows fears and cares yea against povery shame and sickness For the God that Prayer goes to and makes use of is sufficient against all and our only help Turn away now from God if you dare and cast off earnest constant Prayer as if it were a tedious unpleasant thing but be sure the time is coming when thou even thou that thus despisest it wilt betake thy self to Prayer and cry Lord Lord when it is too late or when anguish and terrour seise upon thee Sickness and death and the terrours of the Lord will teach thee to pray as useless and tedious as now you think it Yea and teach you to do it earnestly that now put off all with a few frozen heartless words But O it is seasonable believing prayer that is comfortable It is the prayer of Faith and Love and Hope that is pleasant but the prayer of too late repentance in Hell and the prayer of despair and horrour that cannot procure a drop of water afford no pleasure as they procure
for ever and when the force of Love doth open our lips that our mouthes may shew forth his praise it is pleasant both to God and us The Lord himself doth put on joy as delighting in his peoples praise and when they joyn obedience with holy worship they are pleasant in his eyes Jer. 9. 24. Isa 62. 4. 42. 1. Zeph. 3. 17. He meeteth him that Rejoyceth and worketh righteousness and that remembers him in his wayes Isa 64. 5. Would you taste of the sweetest life on earth Learn then to Delight your selves in God Do you want recreation Be acquainted with his Praise Is there not a better cure for Melancholy here among the servants of the Lord then in an Ale-house or in the company of transgressors Their carnal pleasures are unwholsom for you like luscious fruits that will make you sick But the delights of Faith are safe and healthful Fleshly pleasure is windy and deceitful and weakeneth and befools the soul But the Joy of the Lord is our strength Neb. 8. 10. A little may be too much of fleshly pleasures and it is of very hard digestion and leaves that behind that spoils the sport But the further you go in the Delights of Faith the better they are and the sweeter you will find them You may quickly catch a dangerous surfet of your fleshly pleasures but of spiritual Delights the more the better For they are curing reviving and much confirm and exalt the soul Our spiritual pleasures are so heavenly and have so much of God and Glory in them that they must needs prepare the soul for heaven and be excellent helps to our salvation O therefore if you would live a Pleasant life draw near to God and by Faith behold him and by Love adhere to him and take a view of his infinite Goodness and all his perfections and behold him in his wonderous works and then break forth into his chearful praises and you shall taste such pleasures as the earth affordeth not Lanch forth into the boundless Ocean of Eternity and let your hearts and tongues expatiate in the Praise of the Heavenly Majesty and use this work and ply it close and be not too seldom or customary or careless in it and you shall find the difference between the Pleasures of Faith and of the flesh of a Holy and of a sensual life Psalm 135. 2 3. Ye that stand in the House of the Lord in the Courts of the House of our God Praise the Lord for the Lord is Good sing praises to his Name for it is pleasant Psal 71. 8. Let my mouth be filled with thy Praise and with thy honour all the day Psal 96. 2. 6. Sing unto the Lord bless his name shew forth his salvation from day to day Honour and Majesty are before him strength and beauty are in his Sanctuary O that the Lord will but shine upon my soul with the Light of his countenance and open my heart to the entertainment of his Love and hold a gracious Communion with my soul by his holy Spirit and keep open these doors to me and continue this liberty of his House and Ordinances which we enjoy this day that I may joyn with a faithful humble people in holy Communion and in his Praise and Worship and that with a heart that is suitable to these works I shall then say with David Psal 16. 6. The lines â—â—faln to me in pleasant places I have a goodly heritage I will â—â— for no greater pleasures or honours or advancement in this world Let who will surfet on the pleasures of the flesh Here doth my soul delight to dwell Psalm 27. 4 5 6. One thing have I desired of the Lord that will I seek after that I may dwell in the House of the Lord all the daies of my life to behold the beauty of the Lord and to enquire in his holy Temple For in the time of trouble he will hide me in his pavilion in the secret of his Tabernacle shall he hide me he shall set me up upon a Rock And then shall my head be lifted up above mine enemies round about me therefore will I offer in his Tabernatle sacrifices of Joy I will sing yea I will sing Praises to the Lord. Till I come to the promised Everâ—… Pleasures I shall ask of God no greater Pleasures These would be as much as my soul in the prison of flesh can bear Till 〈…〉 to the Land of Promise may I but have these clusters of 〈…〉 in my present Wilderness I shall not repine My heart 〈…〉 shall be glad and my glory shall rejoyce and at death my flesh 〈…〉 in hope For as the Lord now sheweth me the path of 〈…〉 so in his presence is 〈…〉 of Joy and at his right hand are 〈…〉 for 〈…〉 Pâ—… 4. Another Pleasant Holy Duty is Our holy Communion with Christ and his Church in the Lords Supper This is a holy Feast that is purposely provided by the King of Saints for the entertainment of his family for the refreshing of the weary and the making glad the mournful soul The night before his bitter Death he instituted this Sacramental Feast He caused his Disciples to sit down with him and when they had partaked of the Passover the Sacrament of Promise and had their taste of the old wine he giveth them the New even the Sacrament of the better Covenant and of the fuller Gospel-Grace He teacheth them that his Death is Life to them and that which is his bitterest suffering is their Feast and his Sorrows are their Joyes as our sinful pleasures were his sorrows The slain Lamb of God our Passover that was sacrificed for us that taketh away the sins of the world was the pleasant food which Sacramentally he himself then delivered to them and substantially the next day offered for them The bread of God is he which cometh down from heaven and giveth life unto the world John 6. 33. He is the Living Bread which came down from Heaven If any man eat of this Bread he shall live for ever and the bread that he giveth is his flesh which he hath given for the life of the world ver 50 51. Except we eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his blood we have no life in us Whoso eateth his flesh and drinketh his blood hath Eternal life and he will raise him up at the last day For his flesh is meat indeed and his blood is drink indeed He that eateth his flesh and drinketh his blood dwelleth in Christ and Christ in him As the Living Father hath sent the Son and he liveth by the Father so he that eateth him shall live by him This is that bread that came down from Heaven not as the Fathers did eat Maâ—â—â— and are dead he that eateth this bread shall live for ever I know that to an unbelieving carnal wretch the Sacrament is but a common thing For Christ himself and his Gospel is â—o better in his
worse then the creature and Heaven then earth and so much worse as not to be endured in your thoughts and affections in comparison of them You will never know your friends till you forsake these deceivers Nor ever know the Pleasures of a Holy life till you will let go the poysonous pleasures of sin And then you may find that Sanctification destroyeth not but changeth and recovereth your Delights and giveth you safety for the greatest peril health for sickness friends for enemies gold for dross life for death and the fore-tasts of Rest for tiring vexation 2. THE second sort that are hence to be Reproved are Those weak and troubled servants of the Lord that live as sadly as if they found more grief then pleasure in the wayes of God Indeed it is to be lamented that few of the heirs of life do live according to the happiness and dignity of their Calling nor are the great things that God hath done for them so apparent in the cheerfulness and comforts of their lives as they should be But some that are addicted to dejectedness do in a greater measure wrong Christ and themselves being alwayes feeding upon secret griefs and torturing themselves with doubts and fears and acquainted with almost no other language but lamentations self-accusations and complaints These poor souls usually discover honest hearts that are weary of sin and low in their own eyes and long to be better and do not dis-regard the matters of their salvation as dead-hearted ungodly sinners do Their complaints shew what they would be and what they would be sincerely that they are in Gods account But yet they live so far below the sweet delights which they might partake of and so far below the provisions of their Fathers house and the riches of the Gospel that they have cause to lament their excessive lamentations and more cause to reform this sad distemper and no cause to indulge it as usually such do And though with the most of them some natural passions and weaknesses and some melancholy distempers are so much the cause as may much excuse them yet because it is an evil which must be disowned and Reason must be the means where people have the free use of Reason I shall lay down some of the great inconveniences of this sad distemper and beseech those that tender the honour of God and would do that which is most pleasing to him and love not their own calamity that they will soberly consider of what I say and labour to regulate their minds accordingly 1. I desire the dejected Christian to consider that by his heavy and uncomfortable life he seemeth to the world to accuse God and his service as if he openly called him a rigorous hard unacceptable master and his work a sad unpleasant thing I know this is not your thoughts I know it is your selves and not God and his service that offendeth you and that you walk not heavily because you are holy but because you fear you are not holy and because you are no more holy I know it is not of grace but for grace that you complain But do you not give too great occasion to ignorant spectators to judge otherwise If you see a servant alwayes sad that was wont to be merry while he served another master will you not think that he hath a master that displeaseth him If you see a woman live in continual heavyness ever since she was marryed that lived merrily before will you not think that she hath met with an unpleasing match You are born and new born for Gods honour and will you thus dishonour him before the world What do you in their eyes but dispraise him by your very countenance and carriage while you walk before him in so much heaviness The child that still cryes when you put on his shoes doth signifie that they pinch him and he dispraiseth his meat that makes a sower face at it And he dispraiseth his friend that is alway sad and troubled in his company He that should say of God Thou art bad or cruel and unmerciful should blaspheme And so would he that saith of Holiness It is a bad unpleasant hurtful state How then dare you do that which is so like to such blaspheming when you should abstain from all appearance of evil 1 Thes 5. 22. Canst thou find in thy heart thus to dishonour and wrong the God whom thou so much esteemest and the grace which thou so much desirest For a wicked man that is far from God to go heavily or roar in the horrour of his soul is a shame to his sin but no dishonour to God and Holiness But for you that are near him in relation engagement and attendance to walk so heavily reflects on him to whom you are Related and from whom you look for your Reward 2. Consider also What a lamentable hinderance you are hereby to the conversion and salvation of souls Your countenances and sad complainings do affright men from the service of the Lord and as it were call to them to keep off and fly from the way that you find so grievous You gratifie Satan the enemy of Christ and Holiness and souls and become his instruments though against your wills to affright men from the way of life As the Papists keep their deluded Proselytes abroad from Truth and Reformation by giving them odious descriptions of the Protestants as if they were Hereticks proud frantick mad and scarcely men and when they burn them they adorn them with pictures of the Devil even so doth Satan keep poor souls from entertaining Christ and Truth and entering the holy pathes by making them believe that the servants of Christ are a company of distempered melancholy souls and that Godliness is the way to make men mad and that he that will set his heart on Heaven must never look more for a merry comfortable life on earth Hence comes the proverb of the Malignant Formalists and Prophane that A Puritane is a Protestant frightened out of his wits And will you confirm this slander of the Devil and his instruments Will you entice men to believe him Will you make your selves such pictures of unhappiness and wear such a Vizor of calamity and misery as shall frighten all that look on you and observe you and discourage them from the way which they see accompanyed with so much sorrow As you hang up dead crows in your field to frighten the rest from the Corn and as murderers are hanged in irons to terrifie all that see them from that crime or as the heads of Traytors are set up to the same end as proclaiming to all passengers Thus must you be used if you will do as they Just so would Satan fill you with terrours and overwhelm you with grief and distract you with causeless doubts and fears that you may appear to the world a miserable sort of people and then all that look on you will be afraid of Godliness and think they see it
fear the Lord. From these and such like texts it is evident that All that are truly Godly have a special Love to those that are Godly they love and honour Christ in his Image on his Saints 8. Acts 2. 42. 4. 32. You may see that The Godly love the Communion of Saints to joyn with them in holy doctrine fellowship and prayers 9. 1 Thes 5. 17. Pray continually Luke 18. 1. Christ spake a Parable to them to this end that men ought alwayes to pray and not to wax faint Acts 9. 11. Behold he prayeth Zech. 12. 10. I will pour out the spirit of prayer and supplication Rom. 8. 26. The Spirit helpeth our infirmities for we know not what to pray for as we ought c. From all these and such like it is evident that Prayer is the breath of a Godly man he is a man of Prayer When he wanteth words he hath desires with tears or groans 10. Matth. 15. 8 9. This people draweth near me with their lips but their hearts are far from me John 4. 23 24. God is Spirit and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and truth From such texts it is evident that Every Godly man doth make the inward exercise of his soul the principal part of his worship unto God and doth not stick in bodily exercise or lip service 11. Josh 24. 15. As for me and my houshold we wil serve the Lord. So Deut. 6. 11. 1 Pet. 2. 17 18. 3. 10. Eph. 5. 6. From many such Texts it is evident that Godly men desire the sanctification of others and make conscience of the duties of their relations and would have their housholds or friends to serve the Lord as well as they 12. Luk. 14. 26 33. 18. 22. Matth. 10. 37. Rom. 8. 17 18. From these and other texts it is evident that all things are below Christ and heaven in the practical esteem of a Godly man and that he will forsake them all rather then he will forsake him All these are Scripture Marks of Godliness HAving hastily run over these things to help you in the Tryal I will add some Directions to help you in the practice and therein yet fullyer to acquaint you Wherein true Godliness doth consist Briefly to lay before you first the meer enumeration of the chief points wherein sound Godliness doth consist to help your memories while you see them close together 1. Sound Godliness consisteth in a solid understanding of the substantial points of Religion 2. In a sound belief of the Truth of Gods word and the reality of the unseen things 3. In an adhearing to the holy Scriptures as the Divine Rule of faith and life 4. In the Love of God in Jesus Christ excited by the belief of his Love revealed by Jesus Christ 5. In true humility and low thoughts of our selves and low expectation from others 6. In a heavenly mind that most regardeth the things above and seeketh them as our only felicity at home 7. In self denyal and mortification and temperance and victory over the desires of the flesh When we can deny our own conceits and interests and wills for God and are dead to the world and are not servants to our fleshly appetites or senses or to the things below 8. In thankfulness for received Mercies and Praising the Glorious name of God 9 In the willing and diligent use of the means that God hath appointed us for salvation 10. In charity or Love to all men even our enemies and a special love to true Believers 11. In a love to the holy communion of Saints especially in publike worship 12. In a tender desire of the unity of the Saints and their concord and increase of Charity and a trouble at their discord and divisions 13. In dealing Justly in our places with all men and carefully avoiding all that may be injurious to any 14. In studying to do all the good we can and doing it to our power especially to the houshold of faith 15. In a conscionable discharge of the duties of our relations as Rulers Teachers Parents Masters subjects and inferious 16. In watchfulness against Temptations and avoiding occasions of sin 17. In serious preparations for sufferings and death and patient bearing them when they come These are the things that Godliness doth consist in And now out of all I will draw up ten practical directions which in a special manner I would intreat you to Practice if you would be solidly Godly and not be deceived with names or counterfeits Direct 1. Be sure to live upon the substantials of Religion and let them receive no detriment by a pretence of zeal for lesser points Lay not your Religion in uneffectual opinions and let lower truths and duties keep their places and not be set above the higher Dir. 2. See that your Religion be principally seated in the Heart Understand it as well as you can lest it be taken from you but never think it is savingly your own while it is but in the brain so much you believe indeed as you Love and as hath imprinted the Image of God upon your hearts Ever see that your wills be Resolved for God and holiness and that you be able truly to say I would be perfect and I would fain be better then I am Direct 3. Be sure you take up with God alone as your whole felicity and think not that there is a necessity of the approbation of men or of liberty plenty life or any thing besides God Do not only think that there is a God and a life of Glory for you but Live upon them and be moved and actuated by them Trust to them and take them for your part Live by faith and not by sight Direct 4. Live daily upon Christ as the only Mediator without whom we have no access to God acceptance with him or receivings from him Look for all that you have from God to come by him Live on him for Reconc liation for Teaching for Preservation for Communication for Consolation and for Salvation Let Christ make your thoughts of God more familiar as now Reconciled and Condescending to us Direct 5. Obey the sanctifying motions of the spirit and if you have disobeyed Repent not despairing but returning to obedience but see that you live not in any known sin which a sanctified will can enable you to avoid Resist sins of passion but most carefully take heed of sins of interest deliberately chosen and kept up as necessary or good Direct 6. Make it the principal work of your Religion and your Lives to inflame your hearts with the Love of God as he is presented amiable in his wonderful Grace in Jesus Christ Strive no further to effect your hearts with Fears or Griefs or other troubling passions then as tendeth to the work of Love or is a just expression of it Go daily to promises and mercies and Christ and Heaven of purpose for fewel to kindle Love Be