fold 1. â—o let go sin not only in action but â—n affection also and 2. to lay hold on Christ as one undone without Him Thus came this blessed Soul to be broken off from the Wild Olive Rom. 11.24 In his letting go and â—aying down of sin as the greatest evil and by Grace became grafted â—nto that Blessed and Bleeding Vine â—he Lord Jesus John 15.1 2. who ever after his happy grafting time became a fruit bearing branch haveâ—ng juice and nourishment administred abundantly to him from the â—ree of Life Jesus Christ as the sequel will manifest in almost unparalâ—eld instances Thus far in short for his experiences in his first Conversion now come we to treat more largely of his whole Conversation some parts whereoâ— shall be reduced to the three following Heads His Exercises His Exâ—minations of Himself and his Evidences for Heaven which he attainâ—â— unto c. CHAP. II. NOW after his thorough aâ—â— sound Conversion follows 〈◊〉 holy Conversation which appearâ—â— to be much in Heaven by his conveâ—sing so much with God and with 〈◊〉 own heart in his due preparatioâ— for and true participation of thâ—â— greatest of ordinances the Lords Sâ—â—per as is manifest by those experiences writ with his own hand upon that subject which with no small trouble yet with great delight are here transcribed Now that he was bred and made a new creature by his effectual calling he found and felt a necessity that he must also be fed so asks councel about the concern of his Soul and learnt those Divine Lessons which He recorded As 1. the Lords Supper is so called because our Lord ordained it at his last Supper instead of the Passover 2. 't is the duty of Beleivers to receive it else they do slight his Love and disobey his Command 3. And to receive it often according to Christs command and the Apostles practice 4. That being dull and doubting under my Spiritual wants saith he I must give all dilligence toprepare my Heart for so great a work All are naturally unfit God will come and veiw his guests I have to do with the Son of God c. 5. This preparation must be made by a narrow search of my own Heart concerning my Sins my wants and my Graces and by fervent and solemn prayer 6. The Graces I must go to God and get from him are Knowledge Faith Love Repentance and New Obedience 7. I must have Knowledg for without it the heart cannot be good nor can I know my self nor discern the Lords Body I must know how man was created and how he fell and I in him how we are recovered by Christ how renewed after the image of God in knowledg c. till then my understanding is dark and ignorant my conscience benummed my affections out of order and set upon wrong objects my memory brittle my eyes full of adultry and my whole Frame out of Frame the knowledg of those things will help to break my heart that such a filthy lump of Sin as I am should see and feel the arms of Christ imbracing me 8. I must have Faith whereby I may hartily receive him as my Lord and Redeemer and rely upon him alone both for safety and salvation Without faith 't is not possible to please God and I may not displease him at his own Table when I go thither for the food of my Soul 9. I must have repentance because I must judg my self that I be not judged I must both mourn for sin and turn from sin when I come to the Lords Table c. 10. I must have Love too because the Apostle saith without Love all is nothing 't is uncomfortable to sit down at the table of an enemy whom we love not and who loves not us but 't is dreadfull and dangerous to sit down in our Enmity 11. I must have new Obedience also else I come in my rebellion and for Some Sinister end not out of obedience I must here renew my covenant with God and be as serious as if I were to dye Both in begging to be rid of that Sin which most disturbs the peace of my Soul and to have that mercy which would do me most good in a Dying Hour c. 12. I must quicken and draw forth into act all these forenamed Habits of Grace when I come to the Lords Table there meditating upon the great work of mans redemption Gods severity against sin in the death of my Surety Savior the preciousness of my Soul that cost such a price and the priviledges purchased for me thereby for which I must be thankful c. Having thus solemnly prepared his Soul for this great and tremendous ordinance from July 22. 1681. to August the 7h before he was yet twenty years old he sat down the first time upon that day at the Lords Table Upon this first Sacrament he received August the seventh thus he writes Before I sat down and at my first approach to the Table something of Fear and Trembling seized upon me but soon after I had some Sweet Sights of my Dear Redeemer I saw him by Faith how he stood with his Arms wide open to receive me and how he was Pierced that the Blood came out of his Blessed and Bleeding Sides I had then a clearer Sight of my God through my Redeemer and of his blessed Angels This was ravishing and Oh how refreshing but could not get my heart Inflamed enough with Love to Christ I laid open my Sins and beg'd the Pardon of them might be Sealed I promised to live up to this Obligation c. Concerning the Second Sacrament he Received Sept. 4. 1681. He gives this account I had not duely prepared my Heart for so great a work and Ordinanance but blessed for ever blessed be the Lord who did not deal with me according to my unpreparedness which if he had done I had not been here but been banished from his presence and so been under the Death of Deaths But he was pleased to give me a Sight of himself which I esteem above life and likewise a Sight of God and Christs conferring about mans Redemption I saw the Lord as it were saying Come ye Holy Angels behold man is fallen see if ye can find a way for his recovery which they could not but Christ took upon him mans salvation And I saw my self as it were in Hell where I had for ever laid but Christ came and drew me out then I embraced him as my Prophet Priest and King and became willing to forsake the World and all for Christ O that I may do it more and more and never have this frame worn off but that while I am below with my Body my Soul may be above with my God c. The Third Sacrament was October 2d 1681. on which he writes thus as the minister in administring was saying So that you are unfeignedly willing to receive Christ and whom nothing will satisfy but him I bid come and welcome
c. Psal 90.13 14. He could find nothing in all the World but Divine Mercy to be a Congruous and Competent Remedy for Humane Malady and Mortal Misery And 't is not a little of Mercy will do but he must have much even as much as will Satisfie Oh Satisfie c. The Salve must be suitable to the Sore for quantity as well as quality Great Misery smarted under requires Great Mercy to Cure it Yea and he must have it early also Oh Satisfie me early c. The Soul of a Frail Sinner made sensible of his Sinful Frailty even longs after Mercy He cannot Live without it he dare not Die without it He must have Mercy both the Giving and the Forgiving Mercy whatever else he wants 't is the Vnum Necessarium He must have it speedily or he cannot sit down satisfied Valde protestatus sum me nolle sic a Deo Satiari God saith Luther shall not put me off with Pleasure Treasure Honour or any thing below his Mercy Mercy gives us much yet forgives us more c. The Fourth Observation ariseth from the Body and and Substance of the Text more to be insisted upon to wit Doctr. 4. Man 's Life is but a poor Pilgrimage 'T is twice thus titled in my Text Jacob calls his own Life a Pilgrimage in the fore-part of it and the Life of his Progenitors he calls a Pilgrimage also in the latter part The Apostle James moves a Parallel Question to this of Pharoah's The latter asks What is your Age Gen. 47.8 and the former asks What is your Life Jam. 4.14 This of the Apostles admits of a double Answer The First is Philosophical And The Second is Theologicdl The First is that Answer which not Vain but Solid and Sage Philosophy gives to the Apostles Question What is Man's Life to shew the Nature of it 1. Plato that Divine Philosopher calls Man's Life a Game at Dice wherein what shall be the cast wore or less is not in the Gamesters Power yet whatever is the cast 't is the Gamesters Duty to make the best Improvement of it that he may win the Game This Platonick Notion carrieth a Correspondency with the Analogy of Faith and with the Scripture of Truth which saith Mans ways are not in himself c. Jerem. 10.23 'T is indeed the Saying of some quisque suae Fortunae Faber Every Man is the Framer of his own Fortune which may be taken in Sano Sensu if Interpreted only by that first Sermon after that upon the Fall which God Himself Preached to Cain Gen. 4.7 If thou dost well Shalt thou not he accepted But if thou Dost ill Sin lies at thy Door Notwithstanding It is not in Man to direct his own Steps faith Jeremy much less to order the Success of his Works Solomon saith Man's Diligence without God's Blessing cannot inrich Prov. 10.4 22. Man knows not therefore what his Cast shall be more or less in this Life yet is it his Duty to make the Best and if it be possible a Blest Improvement of all Occurrencies of Providence attending him That through Grace which is the true Philosopbers Stone that turns all it touches into Gold all Natural and Moral Evils may be converted into Spiritual good This is the only way to win the best Game in the World Vincenti Dabitur corona Vitae The Winner's Wage is Eternal Glory Revelat. 2.10 17 26. and 3.5.12.21 Secondly Next to Plato Hear Seneca These two were the two great Luminaries of the Heathen World who abounds in his Allusions upon this Point As 1. This Wise Morallist calls Man's Life a Warfare wherein how soon our Enemy Death will come upon us and overcome us we know not Therefore should we be always upon our Watch and Ward 2. He compares Man's Life to a Flash of Lightning which immediately appeareth and as immediately disappeareth again 3. The Philosopher comes up higher to the very Terms of our Text and plainly saith That Man's Life is but a Pilgrimage and Path-way to Death Some indeed say That this same Seneca was acquainted with the Apostle Paul his Contemporary in Nero's time and that Epistles were writ from each to other so might borrow such Divine Notions from him But sure I am he could not be Conversant with our Patriarch Jacob unless in Moses Pentateuch from which he might borrow such Sacred Phrases c. as Homer did his Alcinous Garden c. and Ovid his Deucalions Floud c. from thence Thirdly Pythagoras Briefly of the rest compareth Man's Life to a Stage-play on a Theatre where a Man acts his Part for a while then retireth being dis-attired or devested of all his Histrionical Attire and Acting Garments Fourthly To this add that of Simonides Related by Rodulphus Agricola who being askt What Man's Life was Answered with a Silent Sign shewing himself to the Company a little while and then with-drawing out of their sight Fifthly Epictetus Declares Man's Life to be like a Voyage at Sea upon the Narrow Seas wherein he meets with High Winds Rough Waters Surging Waves as it were all in a Conspiracy to swallow him up and if he escape the Storm either Ragged Rocks or Cruel Quick-Sands may Shipwrack him in a Calm Yea it may be that Pyrates may plunder him or some contrary Blasts may blow him too soon to Shore However in those Narrow Seas there is but a short Cutt from Shore to Shore Many more Sayings of those Heathen Sages might here be multiplied were it not to avoid Prolixity I have done with the Philosophical Answer to What is Man's Life Let us hear what is that which is Theological that hath a more Noble Original and is Taught in an Higher School Picus Mirandula saith excellently that Philosophy seeks Truth Divinity finds it and Piety possesseth it The Notable Essays of the former have been heard but Scripture Discovery is the more sure Word of Prophecy whereunto we shall do well to take heed 2 Pet. 1.19 The Word of God aboundeth with many Metaphors to Illustrate the Nature of the Life of Man being all Answers to the Apostles Question What is your Life I can but single forth some very few of them that this narrow Discourse swell not too much The First Resemblance waveing those I mention'd before from Psal 90 c. which I inlarged on the more because 't is a Paraphrase on my Text is that of the Apostle James who mov'd the Question What is your Life And gives himself the Answer to it no doubt but well Accommodated because he was inspired by the Holy Ghost to give it He saith It is even a Vapour that appeareth for a while and then vanisheth away Jam. 4.14 Oh what a poor empty thing is a Vapour no Solidity in it 't is not so much a Thing as next to No-thing It disperseth it self so soon as it is raised no sooner it appears but it disappears Oh then What a vain shew maketh Man in his Life Psal 39.6 The
Pomp of Great Princes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Swoln Bubble a big Phansie Act. 25.23 The Sâ—â—ond Resemblance is Smoak My Days saith David are Consumed like Smoak Psal 102. 3. Good God what a Vain thing is Life if no better than Smoak a Vapour may be lovely with its comely Colours but Smoak is a Sooty thing pleasing to none but offensive to all none thinks that Smoak is worth keeping so Life may be as Smoak to the Eyes burdensome enough Though the Flame of Fire be Smoak fired yet the Smoak it self hath not a Spark of fire in it Thus this Temporal Life hath not so much as a Spark of Light and Life in it compared with Eternity Who can hold Smoak in his hand or take and keep an handful of it No more can he his own Life Oh how Smoak hastens up into the Heavens in its Rowling Pillars and circular Agglomerations so doth Man's Life to the Fountain of Life froâ— whence it came The Spirit returns to God Eccles 12.7 The Third Metaphor is a Shadow Man fleeth as a shadow and continueth not Job 14.2 and Psal 112.11 A Shadow we know lasteth not long at any time it can but last the length of a Day at the longest for as soon as the Sun hides his Head under the Earth die Shadow is gone But mostly it lasteth but a little part of the Day because the Sun is oft hiding his Head under a Cloud and so oft is the Shadow gone The Shadow of the Dyal hasteth to its Period and who can stop it So doth Man's Life It flieth as the Shadow of the Night before the Day and as the Shadow of the Day until Night returneth The Shadow passeth along as the Body passeth and who can hold it but the Night cometh and taketh it away Man carries an handful but of Smoak or of a Shadow while he carries his Life in his hand Oh what a poor handful is that which cannot be held Oh how many like Aesop's Dog do catch at this Shadow of a Temporal Life which is slippery as Smoak or as a Shadow so cannot be held and oft so Vain and vexing that 't is not worth holding neglecting in the mean time that great Command Lay fast hold on Eternal Life 1 Tim. 6.19 The Fourth Similitude is a Shepherds Tent Mine Age is departed and removed from me as a Shepherds Tent saith Hezekiah I saiah 38.12 The Shepherd removes his Tent as his Flock removeth from one place to another and he can remove it easily and speedily Now the Lord is our Shepherd Psal 23.1 and our Bodies are as so many Tents or Tabernacles Blessed Paul who was a Tent-maker Act. 18.3 compareth the Body of Man to a Tent or which is all one to a Tabernacle 2 Cor. 5.1 The Tent stands not or falls not at its own but at its owners Pleasure so Man's Life is not at his own choice but at God's Command The Body is not call'd there a Temple as Christ Body was John 2.21 which could see no Corruption Psal 16.10 Act. 13.35 but was to stand like a Stable Temple wherein the God-head dwelt Bodily Col. 2.9 For ever but 't is call'd an earthly House a shaken weather-beaten House a decaying Cottage and a Tottering Tabernacle that must be taken down God 's own hand that erected it comes in a Fit of Sickness and gently slackens the Cords and draws out the Pins that upheld this Tent or Tabernacle and sometimes the Tent is blown down with some Blast of sudden Death c. Yet if Godly to be raised again is a more Glorious Pallace The Fifth Comparison is the Shuttle of a Weaver Job 7.6 which in a moment passeth from one side of the Web to the other The Shuttle hath a very sudden Motion and a very swift Passage from end to end it stops not till it ordinarily be through the Web yet Job saith My Days are swifter than a Weaver's Shuttle that is the time on my Life hastens far faster than it to its appointed Period And Hezekiah compares God to a Weaver and his own Life to the Thread which the Weaver cutteth off either when the Web is finished or before it comes to the Thrums even at his Pleasure Isa 38.12 He will cut off like a Weaver my Life c. Before my Web be throughly wrought before it reach the Thrums that are tyed to the Beam at the end of the Loom The Blind Heathens did hammer at this great Truth in their Fiction of the Three Fatal Sisters Atropos Clotho and Lachesis Clotho colum Bajulat Lachesis Trahit Atropos Occat Clotho holds the Distaff Lachesis Spins out the Thread and Atropos cuts it off at Pleasure As the Shuttle is cast to and again and carries the Thread along with it forward and backward c. So is Man's Life tossed too and fro backward and forward Night and Day The Night casts this Shuttle of Life to the Day and the Day casts it back to the Night again but at length this tender Thread either breaks or is cut off according to Hezekiah's Phrase and possibly the Weaver will cut the Web out of the Loom before it be half accomplish'd as this Dead young Man may sufficiently demonstrate As to the Case of Hezekiah He then thought his Thread had been in breaking but God the good Weaver tyed the almost broken Thread again upon a Weavers Knot so Hezekiah's Life became as an interrupted Web anâ— was woven on for Fifteen Year longer And surely the Messiah puâ— forth the most Exquisite Skill of aâ— excellent Weaver upon all thosâ— whom he raised from Death to Life so made that tender Thread hold oâ— as firmly as if it never had beeâ— cut off or broken Lavater hath aâ— useful Note upon those two Texts oâ— the Weaver's Shuttle saying You that are Weavers or but Lookers up on their Work Meditate on your Mortallity and your hastening as the Shuttle to your End and learn thence to live Holily that you may Die Happily for without Holiness you cannot have Happiness Hebr 12 14. The Sixth Parallel omitting the many more Metaphors occurring in Sacred Writ of which some I may mention upon the next Observation is that is may Text Man 's Life is a Pilgrimage Sometimes the Scripture compares the Life of Man to a Voyage at Sea and sometimes to a Pilgrimage by Land These two are a Sisters Synonoma's and have the same Sence and Significations thought in differing Expressions First As Man's Life is likened to a Voayage at Sea so it representeth the Perils from Pyrates Tempests c. that Mortal Man is exposed unto Is there not an appointed time Job 7.1 The Septuagint reads it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Locus Piratarum Zanchy a place of Pyrates The Ship is never safe but in Harbour But Job makes this Allusion more plainly saying My Days are passed away as the swift Ships Job 9.26 Alas how was poor Job as a Ship tossed with Tempests and not
comforted Isa 54.11 till God brought him to the Haven◠Man's Life as a Ship before the Wind passeth on without any stay until it come to Shore Whether the Marriners in the Ship be sleeping or wakeing working or eating she runs on her course So doth Man's Life run on however he spends his time whether he sleeps or wakes serves God or serves the Devil the Wind of Divine Power and Providence is carrying our Ship of Life nearer its Port while I am thus Speaking and you Hearing God grant it may be the Cape of Good Hope Heaven to wit the best landing place Secondly As Man's Life is likened to a Pilgrimage by Land so this likewise declares it to be a Perilous Passage and Path-way We must not take the Word Pilgrimage in the Text either strictly or Superstitiously in the sence of the Popish Votaries Jacob was not to be looked upon no not by Pharoah himself to be a Popish Pilgrim nor any of the Holy Patriarchs his Predecessors The Popish Pilgrimage to Jerusalem is a Ridiculous as well as a Superstitious Practice for no one place can bring a Man nigher God than another all parts of the Earth have an equal distance from Heaven though the Romanists plead that Father Cyril went thither yet he himself professeth that he went not upon the account of any private Pilgrimage to Jerusalem but as he was ordered by Publick Authority to visit the Eastern Churches and to establish them in the Truth But we must understand Pilgrimage here largely for a Path-way a Thorough-Fare a Course Race or Journey from one place to another Thus a Pilgrim in Scripture-Sence is all one with a Traveller a Stranger and a Sojourner Man's Life is but his walk and way There be many Congruities betwixt them which I shall reserve to discourse upon in handling the Sixth Observation as being their proper place adding only here that there is a Two-fold Pilgrimage First A Natural Pilgrimage Secondly A Moral Pilgrimage First The Natural Pilgrimage is the course that a Man rides the Race that he runs even the whole Passage and Progress of his Life of Nature ab Vtero ad Vrnam from his Birth to his Burial for till then he comes not to his Journeys end or to the Period or full Point of his Pilgrimage There be two Terms in this former to wit the Grave of the Womb is the Terminus a quo or starting place Man begins this Pilgrimage as soon as he is Born of a Woman and comes out of the Womb into the World and he never rests from his Travel but is a poor Pilgrim sleeping and waking until he come to rest in the Womb of the Grave There the weary be at Rest Job 3.17 that is His Terminus ad Quem There is Secondly a Moral Pilgrimage wherein likewise there are two the like Terms This is a walking from our selves and from our Sins up unto God and unto Godliness The beginning of this Pilgrimage Morally taken is the privative part a ceasing from Sin or departing from Evil and the Accomplishment of it is the positive part a Learning to do well and not only a pursuing but also an overtaking of that which is Good Isa 1.16 17. and Psal 34.14 and Amos 5.15 And this is a Metaphorical Walk non Pedibus sed Affectibns as saith the Father with our Affections Those Feet of the Soul whereby it goes forth after Objects more than with those of the Body I. VSE Seeing your Life is but a Pilgrimage a coming and a going as David's Phrase is and of Joshuah before him Behold I am going the way of all the Earth 1 King 2.2 and Josh 23.14 that is The way of all the Men upon Earth who are all doom'd to go that way Hebr. 9.27 Oh consider both you young and you old your Life is a Path-way either to a Prison or to a Pallace it is a Thorough-Fare either to Heaven or to Hell Bethink your selves in time Be Men and Women of Consideration for that is it which distinguishes Men from Beasts c. II USE Then Agree with your Adversary an angry God for your Sins while you are in the way of your Life Matth. 5.25 While you are going your Pilgrimage before you come to the Judges House who will certainly send you if unreconciled into an Everlasting Prison If you walk in the broad way being all for Elbow-room to Sin and leading loose and Licentious Lives you are hastening down to the Chambers of Eternal Death Matth. 7 13. but if in the Narrow-way of a strict Conversation Then are you going to a Pallace not to a Prison ver 14. a good Life always bespeaks a good Death and all Persons are passing either to Heaven or Hell while they live and when they Die their Death is but a flitting to the one place or to the other c. Having thus far discovered the Nature of Humane Life defined or described in the Text to be not any Royal Progress which is constantly carry'd on and manag'd after a Splendid manner every way adapted to the Grandeur of Majesty No the Life of Man hath no such stately Prospect in this Holy Patriarchs eye but 't is a poor Pilgrimage twice inculcated here and as oft aggravated with contemptible Circumstances relating to both the Quantity and the Quality of this poor Pilgrimage From tke former of these two to wit the Quantity ariseth my Fift Observation Doctr. 5. The Pilgrimage of Man's Life is but a short Pilgrimage Thus this Blessed Patriarch computed his own Life in the Text to be but a short Life consisting only of a few Days though he had now attained to the Age of an Hundred and Thirty years Few and evil c. To speak distinctly of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that it is so of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 why it is so and of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the manner how it is so cannot be expected in this short Discourse save only some promiscuous Intimations of them all I. REASON The shortness of this Pilgrimage is Demonstrable three ways First In as much as Man's Life is measured by Days one of the least Computations of time not by Weeks or by Months much less by Years Thus Jacob computeth his own Life by Days in the Text twice over as he doth also the Lives of the foregoing Patriarchs Thus Job likewise numbereth his Life by Days over and over again as Job 7.1.6 and 14.1.5 and many more places too long to enumerate So David 1 Kings 2.1.4 and Psal 103.3.11 c. yea and all the most Mortified Men in Scripture do unanimously concur in the same Computation of their Lives by Days II. REASON The Second Demonstration that Man's Life is short as it is measured so it is numbered by his Days yea to be but as one day Because it consists only of a few Days This Epithet is expressed in the Text Few are my Days c. Man's appointed Time is but a few
A Spiritual Legacy Being a PATTERN OF PIETY FOR ALL Young Persons Practice in a faithful Relation of the Holy LIFE and Happy DEATH OF Mr John Draper REPRESENTED Out of his own and other Manuscripts containing his Experiences Exercises Self-Examinations and Evidences for Heaven Together with his Funeral SERMON Published by CHR. NESS Minister of the Gospel LONDON Printed by H. Clark for the Author and are to be sold by L. Curtis at Sr. Edmundbury Godfrey's Head near Fleet Bridge 1684. THE Epistle Dedicatory TO YOUNG MEN THE Bosom and best Beloved Disciple saith I write to you Young Men because ye have overcome the wicked One because ye are strong and the Word of God abideth in you c. 1 Joh. 2.13 14. And poor I the least of Saints and greatest of Sinners write accordingly unto you that it may be so with you in this present Time as it was with those Young Men in the Primitive and Apostolical Times What they through Grace did and Had the honour of the same ye ought to do and have the like Ambition both for Valour and for Victory Solomon saith also That the Glory of Young Men is their Strength Prov. 20.29 The Hebrew word there for Young Men signifeth Choice men to wit for Military Employments which may be understood in a Mystical as well as in a Literal Sense seeing there is a Spiritual as well as a Temporal Warfare Isa 40.2 1 Cor 9.7 2 Cor. 10.4 1 Tim. 1.18 There is the Figurative Fighting the good Fight of Internal Faith 1 Tim. 6.12 2 Tim. 4.7 Heb. 10.32 As well as that which is Corporal by External Force Nor can Young men be reputed more truly Valorous in any Heroick Exploits than in Vanquishing the Prince of Darkness O ye Young men your Strength is indeed your Glory and you are prone to Glory in your Strength as your peculiar Priviledge above all other Ages but forget not that word of Wisdom which tells you Let not the mighty man Glory in his might c. but let him that glorieth Glory in the Lord Jerem. 9.23 1 Cor. 1.31 And remember to use your strength well not in Quarrelling and Duelling as those Youngsters at Helketh-Hazzurim did who sheathed their Swords in each others Bowels for a Play and Pastime 2 Sam. 2.14.16 Not in Vanity or Villany c. but in following your particular Callings as well as in fighting for your native Countries as those Young men of the Princes of the Provinces did 1 Kings 20.20 from ver 13 14 c. As you are Strong Young men more especially in pursuing your General Calling as you are Strong Young Christians Thus Young Timothy became a good Souldier of Jesus Christ 2 Tim. 2.3 not dreaming of any Carnal Delicacy but Enduring Hardship and living so abstemiously among the luxrious Ephesians that the Apostle was constrained to prescribe him Physick 1 Tim. 5.23 As Godly Timothy 's daily Task was to war a good marfare so it ought to be yours DIRECTIONS First Make Religion your business not a By-business let it be jour Alpha and your Omega that must be in the Beginning and in the Ending yea and in the Middle also of all your Actings Inure your selves so to it as to make it your familiar Exercise or Recreation Acts 24.16 Yea bestirr your selves lustily in it as your business of greatest Importance 1 Tim. 4.7 Secondly Arm your selves with the whole Armour of God both that part which is Defensive as the Girdle of Truth the Helmet of Hope the Shield of Faith the Breast-Plate of Righteousness and the Shoes of Peace and Patience And that also which is Offensive as the Sword of the Spirit and Darts of Prayer Eph. 6.12 13 to 19. Thirdly In this Armour fight ye the good Fight of Faith 1 Tim. 6.12 Be men of God ver 11. and Quit your selves like men 1 Cor. 16.13 Be more than men be strong 2 Tim. 2.1 in the Grace which is by Je sus Christ Be Strong Young Men Resist the Devil and he will flee from you James 4.7 1 Pet. 5.9 Satan is therefore but a Coward who like the Crocodile when you follow him he fleeth you but if you flee from him he followeth you Fourthly In this Armour also do ye war a good warfare 1 Tim. 16.18 against those Fleshly Lusts which war against your Souls 1 Pet. 2.11 That like the Syrians are commanded by their Master to war with neither Small nor Great but with the King of Israel 1 Kings 22.31 All their Spite is against the Soul to destroy it and its Grace and Peace If such a Chast and Chastened peice as Mortified young Timothy was bid to Flee youthful Lusts 2 Tim. 2.22 How much more you in these debauching daies and in your slippery Age as slippery as Glass Fifthly Tremble to turn This Celestial Armour into Carnal and Effeminate Amours If you embrace Vice in your Youth 't is a thousand to one but you will refuse Vertue in your Old Age Trees that blossom not in the Spring will hardly bear fruit in Autumn Besides is this fair dealing to give God the Devils leavings How can God like to be Gleaning at last where the Devil hath been reapimg all your Time to say nothing of the Strains and Cramps of Conscience which you will carry with you to your dying Day as possibly you may do some strains and cramps while young and presumptuous in your body Sixthly But to be short consider what Solomon in his sapiential Sermon concerning the most soveraign good saith by his most emphatical Irony for deterring all youngsters from persuing sensual pleasures rejoyce O Young-Man in thy youth Eccles. 11.9 That is Do if thou darest As God said to Balaam Go since thou wilt go Numb 22.20 But know that thou goest upon thy death Thus this Ironical Concession intimates that Young-Men have strongest Inclinations to and the stoutest Abilities for all kind of sensuallity and they are most impatient both of reproof and restraint therefore do they indulge their own jolly and frolick humours in takeing their full of delights In eating drinking being madly merry c. Let them do so saith Solomon but at their peril But know c. O this stinging But c. marrs all their mirth and is a Cooler to the Youngsters courage one thought of an after reckoning spoils all his sport For all these things which are accounted but Triffles and Tricks of Youth God will bring you to judgment either in this life as he did Young Absolom and Adonijah Hophni and Phineas Nadab and Abihu and other Young Men or however in the next life Your Death Day shall unavoidably become your Dooms Day then God will force you to appear before his dreadful tribunal though never so much against the hair and against the heart thereto receive the direful sentence of go ye cursed c. Young-Men of all men are aptest to put the evil day of death and judgment far from them But this avails
till she reach her desired Harbour or Haven Mark also the Congruity in sundry Particulars betwixt Man's Passage through this Life and a Ships passing through the Sea The First Congruity is as a Ships Bulk being built just after the manner of Man's Body in a Supine posture the Bottom-Tree answering our Back-Bone which hath many Ribs rising up on both sides c. is made for Motion not Rest Hence the Ignorant Indians call'd the first ships they beheld Moving Islands All ships are made for launching out into the Deep Waters Psal 107.23 24. And when heaved from off the Stocks where they are built in order to their passing down into the Deep have a peculiar Name as the Good-Speed the Adventure c. put upon them Even so it is with the poor Isle of Man so called he upon his first Launching forth from his Mothers Womb into a Sea of misery hath some significant Name put upon him with many hearty wishes from Parents and Relations sent after him both for his Safety and Success Secondly No sooner is the Ship Launched out into the Main Ocean but she meets with contarry Winds raging Waves dreadful Storms c. as before so that she is never safe or quiet till she reach her Rest in her desired Haven Psal 107.30 Thus it is with Man while in this lower World the place of Pyracy Job 7.1 ut supra He is assaulted with many Pyrates who hang out false Colours to decoy him within the Command of their Cannons He is Afflicted tossed with Tempests and not Comforted Isa 54.11 This present evil World is a very Shop fully furnished with All Tempting Tools and the life of man is but as one Temptation continued from First to Last 'T is a life made up all of Temptation Man is ever under either Visible or Invisible Dangers He passeth through Perils in Perils often as Paul 2 Cor. 11.26 every moment untill he Reach to that Everlasting Rest in a Desired Haven Heb. 4.9 Revel 14.13 The Third Congruity is A Ship is not only made for Motion but for Swift Motion Hence Job phraseth it My days pass away as the Swift Ships Hebr. Ships of Ebeck which may be read Ships of desire whether they be Ships of Pleasure or Yatches which are Built Frigat-wise for Sayling Swiftly Or they be Ships of Pyracy as Mendoza reads it saying Naves Piraticae mercibus Vacuae quam velocissime Rapiuntur Plundering and Pilfering Privateers being empty of Burdens make the most speedy way in Plowing through the Waters especially when they have both Wind and Tide with them to promote their Progress Thus it is with poor mortal Man who is a rowling tumbling thing like a Ship hopping from Hill to Mountain and meeting with no Resting Place Jer. 50.6 He reels to and fro as if drunk like the Marriners in a tossed Ship Psal 107.26 27. Yea and many mens motions to Hell are as swift Ships making great haste thither Prov. 1.16 Isa 59.7 Rom. 3.15 mans life is swift of it self but it runs most swiftly when the wind of Temptation and the tide of Corruption concurr to carry it forward c. Oh would to God the motions of your minds made as much expedition towards Heaven as wicked men do towards Hell All men are Ships of Desire both good and bad All are Home-bound to one of those ports and never do the winds so much fill the Sails of such and such a Ship as Desires do fill the minds of the Mariners to be at such and such a Desired Haven 'T is true the worst of wicked men do not Desire Hell yet though they do not desire that end they have strong desires towards the way to that end how ought every gracious soul to pray for the fresh gales of Gods Spirit John 3.8 and to cry with the Spouse in the Song Awake O Northwind and come thou Southwind blow upon me c. Cant. 4.16 a Godly Person hath with Paul his Cupio Dissollvi a desire to be dissolved and to be with Christ Phil. 1.23 O how should we all with the penitent prodigal Hasten home to our Fathers House c. Luke 15.17 18 20. Heaven is our home 2 Cor. 5. from 1. to 7. 't is our Desired Haven Psal 107.30 even everlasting happiness Fourthly the Fourth paraphrase upon Jobs phrase that mans life is like a Ship followeth that as a Ship leaves no visible tract behind her so life passeth unto death and the memory of it is forgotten Solomon saith the way of a Ship in the midst of the Sea cannot be tracked Prov. 30.19 for though she make deep furrows in her passage all along ye◠do they immediately close up again and the same Solomon saith of men yea of great men that carry a great figure in their place and be of a Ruffling grandeur in the world when once Dead the memory of them wears out of the mind Eccles. 8.10 and 9.5 Thus Aegypt forgat Joseph Exod. 1.18 and Israel Gideon Judg. 8.34 35. Yea men Friends and Familiars remember the dead no more Thus likewise some understand that phrase in Dan. 8.5 The he goat toucheth not the ground in this sence that it imports not only the speed and expedition of Alexanders prodigious conquests but also that in ā short time no man would know what was become either of that great conqueror or of any of his vast Conquests there would be no print of any their footsteps left behind they would no more be found than the way of a ship in the midst of the Sea Yet O how good it is to be a godly person for the Righteous shall be had in Everlasting Remembrance Psal 112.6 the memory of the just full be blessed Prov. 10.7 they shall be mentioned with much veneration after death even by those that spared not to Reproach them in their life their very name shall be honourable and acceptable to God and men whereas the name of the wicked rotteth and stinks above ground Prov. 10.7 Fifthly and lastly a Ship never rests till she come into her desired Heaven so mans life stays no where till it comes to its long rest and that is a blessed rest to those that dye in the Lord Revel 14.13 that fall asleep in Jesus 1 Thes 4.14 God takes a way their Souls out of their bodies as it were by a Kiss thus Rabins read that phrase Gnal pi Jehovah Deut. 34.5 at the mouth of the Lord Moses dyed not as we according to the words of the Lord As if God had taken away his Soul with a kiss of his mouth such a kiss of love as the Spouse prayed for from the mouth of Christ Cant 1.2 when this is done what follows after but rest from labours 1 from Labours of necessity 2 from labours of Infirmity and 3 from labours of Iniquity 1. They Rest from the first to wit the Necessary yet toilsom◠Labours of this Life they take no more thought Propoter Victum Amictum what they