for all the duties that they have hindered Judg. 16.28 Sampson pleads hard with God that he might be avenged on the Philistines for his two eyes and so doth the gracious soul plead hard with God that he may be avenged on his bosom lusts on his complexion sins which have put out his two eyes which have so blinded him that he has not for a long time been able to see God or Christ or the things that belong to his external internal or eternal peace The next of kin in the Law was alwayes the avenger of bloud and to him it appertained to hunt after the murderer to bring upon his head the innocent bloud that he had shed if therefore we will shew our selves brethren or sisters of Christ or any thing of kin unto him we must even be the avengers of his bloud upon bosom sins upon complexion sins for for them as well as others was his bloud shed O Sirs what bosom sin is there so sweet or profitable that is worth a burning in hell for or worth a shutting out of heaven for surely none This a gracious soul seriously weighs and accordingly he sets himself against the Toad in his bosom against his darling sins against his complexion sins But now unsound hearts are very favourable to bosom sins to complexion sins they say of them as Lot of Zoar Gen. 19.20 Is it not a little one and my soul shall live And as David once said concerning Absalom 2 Sam. 18.5 Deal gently for my sake with the young man even with Absalom beware that none touch the young man Absalom Ver. 12. And the King said is the young man Absalom safe Ver. 29. An unsound heart is as fond of his bosom sins 2 King 5.18 of his complexion sins as Jacob was of his Benjamin or as Jeha was of his calves or as Naaman was of his Idol Rimmon or as Judas was of bearing the bag or as Herod was of his Herodias Acts 19. or as Demetrius was of his Diana or as the Pharisees were of devouring widows houses Mat. 23. and of having the uppermost seats in the Synagogues and of being saluted in the market places with those glorious titles Rabbi Rabbi The besotted sinner is most engaged to his bosom sins his complexion sins and therefore 't is as bitter a thing as death for him to part with them Mich. 6.6 7. he had rather part with burnt-offerings and calves of a year old he had rather part with thousands of Rams and with ten thousand Rivers of oyl yea he had rather part with his first-born than with his bosom sin Job 20.12 13. he is ready to give the fruit of his body for the sin of his soul Let God frown or smile stroke or strike lift up or cast down promise or threaten yet he will hide and hold fast his bosom sin let God set life and death heaven and hell glory and misery before him yet will he not part with his bosom sins let God wound his conscience blow upon his estate leave a blot upon his name crack his credit afflict his body Jer. 20.3 4. write death upon his relations and be a Magor-missabib a terror to his soul yet will he not let go his darling sins An unsound heart will rather let God go and Christ go and heaven go and all go than he will let his darling lusts go But now a sound Christian a throuhgout Christian he sets himself most against the Dalilah in his bosom against the Benjamin the son the sin of his right hand A sincere Christian looks upon bosom sins upon complexion sins as the most God-provoking sins there are no sins so provoking to Gods jealousies and justice as bosom sins he looks upon bosom sins complexion sins a the most dangerous sins he looks upon bosom sins complexion sins as the worst thing in all the world he looks upon bosom sins complexion sins as more ugly and horrid than the devil himself or than hell it self he looks upon bosom sins as the great make-bates between God and his soul and between his conscience and his comfort Isa 59.1 2. Lamen 3.8 44. he looks upon bosom sins as those enemies that have provoked God often to turn a deaf ear to all his prayers he looks upon his bosom sins as so many Judas's that have often betrayed him into the hands of the devil he looks upon his bosom sins as the waters of Marah that has imbittered all his mercies he looks upon his bosom sins as the only things that have often clouded the face of God he looks upon his bosom sins as dead flies in the box of precious ointment that spoyls all and accordingly with all his might he sets himself against them 1. He fights most against these 2. He weeps most over these 3. He watches and aâ—ms most against these 4. He prayes most against these 5. He resolves most against these And 6. He layes the axe of repentance most to these c. But pray Sir before you close up this Chapter lay down some sure and infallible evidences of the goodness graciousness and happiness of their estates and conditions who are but weak in grace who are but babes of grace that so they may have their portion satisfaction support and consolation as well as others Ans I shall endeavour to do it and therefore thus Sixthly True desires of grace is grace true desires after Christ and grace and holiness is grace he who does sincerely desire to believe he does really believe and he that does sincerely desire to repent he does really repent and he that does sincerely desire to obey the Lord 1 Pet. 2.3 4. 2 Chron. 30.18 19 Mat. 7.8 Psal 42.1 2. Psal 63.1 c. and to fear the Lord and to serve the Lord he does really obey the Lord and fear the Lord and serve the Lord. It is the first step to grace for a man to see his heart void of grace and it is the first degree of grace for a man to desire grace Mark all true desires of grace have the very nature and truth of grace in them As there is true fire in a spark as well as in a flame and true water in a drop as well as in a stream and true light in a beam as well as in the Sun and true gold in the very filings of gold as well as in the whole wedge of gold the least of any thing partakes of the nature of the whole Isa 55.1 2. 65. 1. John 7.37 True desires of grace argues a state of grace and salvation Psal 38.9 Lord thou knowest all my desire my groanings is not hid from thee Mat. 5.6 Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness for they shall be filled or as the Greek runs after the participle of the present tense they that are hungering and thirsting intimating that where ever this is the present disposition of mens souls they are blessed
A CABINET OF CHOICE JEVVELS OR A Box of precious Ointment Being a plain Discovery of or what men are worth for Eternity and how 't is like to go with them in another World Here is also a clear and large Discovery of the several rounds in Jacob's Ladder that no Hypocrite under Heaven can climb up to Here are also such closs piercing distinguishing and discovering evidences as will reach and suit those Christians who are highest in Grace and spiritual Enjoyments and here are many Evidences which are suited to the Capacities and Experiences of the weakest Christians in Christ's School And here Christians may see as in a Glass what a sober Use and Improvement they ought to make of their evidences for Heaven and how in the use of their gracious evidences they ought to live First upon the free grace of God Secondly upon the Mediatory righteousness of Christ Thirdly upon the Covenant of Grace With several other Points of grand Importance c. By Thomas Brooks formerly Preacher of the Gospel at St. Margarets New-Fishstreet Brethren give diligence to make your calling and election sure 2 Pet. 1.10 Examine your selves whether ye be in the faith prove your own selves know ye not your own selves how that Jesus Christ is in you except ye be reprobates Or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 unapproved or rejected Omnis anima est aut sponsa Christi aut adultera Diaboli Austin London Printed and are to be sold by John Hancock at the first Shop in Popes-Head-Alley in Cornhil at the sign of the three Bibles or at his Shop in Bishops-Gate-Street near great St. Hellins 1669. To the Right Worshipful Sir John Frederick Knight and the Lady Mary Frederick his pious Consort To Mr. Nathaniel Herne and Mrs. Judith his vertuous Wife All confluence of blessings both for this Life and for that which is to come from the Father of Mercies and God of all Consolations Honoured and Beloved in our Lord Jesus THough I croud your Names together yet I owe more than an Epistle to each of your Names but the Loâ—d having made you near and dear one to another more wayes than one I take the boldness to present this Treatise to you jointly Here is nothing in this Book that relates to the Government of Church or State The design of this Treatise is to shew what men are worth for Eternity and how it is like to go with them in another World Granctensis tells of a woman that was so affected with souls miscarryings that she besought God to stop up the passage into hell with her soul and body that none might have entrance O anima Dei insignita imagine desponsata fide donata spiritu c. Bern. O divine soul invested with the image of God espoused to him by faith c. There are none of the sons of men but bear about with them precious and immortal souls that are more worth than ten thousand thousand worlds if the soul be safe all is safe if that be well all is well if that be lost all is lost The first great work that men are to attend in this World is the eternal safety and security of their souls the next great work is to know to be assured that it shall go well with their souls for ever And these are the main things that are aimed at in this Discourse The soul is the better and more noble part of man upon the soul the Image of God is most fairly stampt the soul is first converted and the soul shall be first and most glorified the soul is that spiritual and immortal substance that is capable of union with God and of communion with God and of an eternal fruition of God Plato though a Heathen could say That he thought the soul to be made all of eternity and that the putting the soul into the body was a sign of great wrath from God Each living corps must yield at last to death Pindarus And every life must leese his vital breath The soul of man that only lives on high And is an image of Eternity The Romans when their Emperors and great Ones died and their bodies were buried they caused an Eagle to mount on high thereby to signifie the souls immortality and ascent He gave good counsel who said Play not the Courtier with your soul the Courtier doth all things late he rises late and dines late and sups late and repents late A Scythian Captain having for a draught of water delivered up his City cryed out Quid perdidi quid prodidi What have I lost what have I betrayed So many at last will cry out What have I lost what have I betrayed I have lost God and Christ and Heaven and have betrayed my precious and immortal soul into the hands of divine Justice and into the hands of Satan Who these men are that will at last thus cry out this Treatise does discover I have read that there was a time when the Romans did wear jewels on their shoes Most men in this day do worse for they trample that matchless jewel of their souls under feet and who these are this Treatise does discover One well observes Chrysost That whereas God hath given many other things double two eyes to see with two ears to hear with two hands to work with and two feet to walk with to the intent that the failing of the one might be supplied by the other but he hath given us but one soul and if that be lost hast thou saith he another soul to give in recompence for it Now who those are whose souls are in a safe estate and who those are whose souls are in danger of being lost for ever this Treatise does plainly and fully discover Psal 15. Psal 144.15 To describe to the life who that man is that is truly happy in this world and that shall be blest for ever in the other world is the work of this ensuing Treatise The grace of the Covâ—nant in us is a sure evidence of Gods entring into the Covenant of grace with us To be in a gracious state is true happiness but to know our selves to be in such a state is the top of our happiness in this world A man may have grace and yet for a time not know it 1. Joh. 5.13 The child lives in the womb but does not know it A man may be in a gracious state and yet not see it Psal 77. Psal 88. he may have a saving work of God upon his soul and yet not discern it he may have the root of the matter in him and yet not be able to evidence it Now to help such poor hearts to a right understanding of their spiritual condition and that they may see and know what they are worth for another world and so go to their graves in joy and peace I have sent this Treatise abroad into the world Will you give me leave to say First Some men of name
that is sins own work and not ours but he sayes Let it not reign in you for when a King reigns the Subjects do â—s it were actively obey and embrace his command whereas they are rather patients than agents in a tyranny a regenerate mans will riseth against his sin even then when he is worsted by sin and led captive by sin A Tyrant is obeyed unwillingly the wills of his subjects rise up against his commands and if his power were not superior to their wills they would never obey him Sin is no King but a Tyrant in the souls of the Saints and therefore their wills so far as they are renewed can't but rise against it O Sirs remember this for ever that the molesting vexing and tempting power of sin does not speak out its dominion for sin may molest and vex and tempt as an enemy where it doth not rule and reign as a King as you see this day in many Nations of the earth there are many enemies that do molest vex and tempt the subjects of those Nations who yet are far enough off from having any rule or dominion over them but then sin is in dominion when it commands in the heart as a King in his Throne or as a Lord in his house or as a General in his Army freely boldly universally cheerfully and when the soul doth as freely boldly universally and cheerfully subject it self to sins commands where men commonly yield up their wills and affections to the commands of sin there sin reigns and this is the case of every unregenerate man but where the will does commonly make a stout opposition to sin there it reigns not now this is the case of every regenerate man That Prince cannot truly be said to reign in that Kingdom where commonly he meets with stout opposition So 't is here A sincere Christian makes it the great business and work of his life above all other things in this world to make all the opposition he can against his lusts and is throughly resolved to die fighting against his sins as Pietro Candiano one of the Dukes of Venice died fighting against the Nauritines It is a harder thing to fight with a mans lusts than to fight with the cross Augustine with the weapons in his hand Aâ— Caesar said in a battel he fought against one of Pompey's sons at other times I fought for honour but now I fight for my life so a sincere Christian fights against his sins as for his life Castellio's opinion was vain viz. That men are of three sorts some unregenerate some regenerating and others regenerated and that these last have no combat betwixt flesh and spirit which is quite cross to Scripture Rom. 7 14-24 Gal. 5.17 c. and contrary to the experience of all Saints in all the ages of the world But Thirdly When a man is usually peremptory in his sinnings in the face of all reprehensions and arguments that tend to disswade him from sin Prov. 29.1 Jer. 5.3 4. 44.15 16 17. then sin is in dominion when the constant bent of the heart is inflamed towards sin and when the desires of the soul are insatiably carried after sin and when the resolutions of the soul are strongly and habitually set upon sin Hos 2.6 7. then sin is in the Throne and then it reigns as a King when God hedges up the sinners way with thorns yet the sinner will break through all to his sin when life and death heaven and hell glory and misery are set before the sinner Deut. 30.15 19. 11.26 27 28.29 yet the sinner will be peremptory in his sinnings though he lose his life his soul and all the glory of another world then sin reigns But Fourthly When men ordinarily habitually commonly are very careful studious and laborious to make provision for sin then sin reigns Rom. 13. ult Make no provision for the flesh to fulfil the lusts thereof or as the Greek has it David in an hour of temptation once made provision for his lusts 2 Sam. 11.14 15. but this was not his course his trade c. Make no projects for the flesh or cater not for the flesh when a mans head and heart is full of projects how to gratifie this lust and how to satisfie that lust and how to fulfil t'other lust then sin reigns then 't is in its throne Jam. 4.3 Ye ask and receive not because you ask amiss that ye may consume it upon your lusts Both the Law of God and nature requires me to make provision of raiment food and physick for my body and for theirs that are under my charge but it may cost me my life my estate yea my very soul to make provision for my lusts Such as ask amiss shall be sure to ask and miss he that would make God a Baud to his lusts may ask long enough before God will answer of all affronts there is none to this of making God a servant to our lusts Hos 2.8 and where this frame of spirit is there sin is in dominion He that abuses mercies to serve his lusts fights against God with his own weapons as David did against Goliah and as Benhadad did against Ahab with that very life that he had newly given him such a soul like the waters of Jordan will at last certainly drop into the dead lake But Fifthly When sin is commonly habitually sweet and the soul takes a daily pleasure and delight in it then it reigns as you may see by comparing the Scriptures in the margenâ— together Joh 20.12 13. Prov. 2.14 Amos 6.13 Zeph. 3.11 2 Thes 2.12 when a man daily takes as joyful contentation and satisfaction in his lusts and in walking after the wayes of his own heart as he does in his highest outward enjoyments oâ— in his nearest and dearest relations then certainly sin is in dominion Such men as can go constantly on in a way of wickedness meerly to delight and content the flesh such men are certainly under the power and reign of sin Many of the Heathens who knew what rational delights were scorned sensual delights as inferior to them These will one day rise in judgment against many of the Professors in our dayes I know there is no real pleasure or delight in sin if intemperance could afford more pleasure than temperance then Hiliogabalus should have been more happy than Adam in Paradise yea if there were the least real delight in sin there could be no perfect hell where men shall most perfectly sin and most perfectly be tormented with their sins Heark Scholar said the Harlot to Apulciuâ— 't is but a bitter sweet that you are so fond of Pâ—â—â—rh When an Asp stings a man it doth at first tickle him and make him laugh till the poyson by little and little gets to his heart and then it pains him more than before it delighted him 'T is so with sin it may tickle the soul at first but it will pain
then his desire Luke 17.5 are most for faith you shall then find him with the Disciples crying out Lord increase our faith But now though a wicked mans heart rise against every grace yet it rises most strongly against those particular graces which are most opposite and contrary to those particular lusts which are a wicked mans bosom lusts Mat. 26.8 9. his darling sins c. Hence the covetous heart rises and swells most against liberality as you see in Judas Rev. 3.15 16 17. Luke 19. What need this waste Flesh and bloud looks upon all as lost that is laid out upon Christ his servants and services And the luke-warm Christians heart rises and swells most against zeal and fervency and the griping Userers heart rises and swells most against restitution Job 21.14 15. and the adulterers heart rises and swells most against purity chastity continency and the ignorant mans heart rises and swells most against light and knowledge Eccles 7.10 the ignorant man is willing to go to hell in the dark and ready and bold enough to conclude that we never had such sad and bad times as we have had since there hath been so much preaching and so much hearing and so much fasting and so much praying and so much light and knowledge in the world But now it is quite otherwise with a true child of God Rom. 7.22 23. for his heart rises and swells most against the Toad or Toads that are in his own bosom and the daily and earnest desires of his soul are that God would make him eminent in every grace yea that God would make him most eminent in those particular graces which are most opposite and contrary to those particular lusts and corruptions which more peculiarly more especially he hath cause to call his iniquity Psal 49.5 or the iniquities of his heart and of his heels Look as we have some dirt more or less that will still cleave to our heels whilst we are in a dirty world so there is some defilements and pollutions that will still be cleaving to all our duties services wayes and walkings in this world which we may well call the iniquity of our heels Now a gracious heart rises most against these c. Thirteenthly No man can truly love grace in another but he that has true grace in his own soul 1 John 3.10 No man can love a Saint as a Saint but he that is a real Saint no man can love holiness in another but he that has holiness in his own soul no man can love a good man for goodness sake but he that is really good We know that we have passed from death to life 1 John 3.14 This Text you have opened in the first Maxim of this Book because we love the brethren Sincere love to the brethren is a most evident sign of a Christians being already passed or translated from death to life that is from a state of nature into a state of grace such a poor soul that dares not say that he has grace in his own heart yet dares say before the Lord that he loves delights and takes pleasure to see the holy graces of the Spirit sparkling and shining in the hearts lives and lips of other Saints secretly wishing in himself that his soul were but in their case and that dares say before the Lord Psal 15.1 4. Psal 16.3 He that loves his brother saith Augustine better knows his love wherewith he loves than his brother whom he loves that there are no men in all the world that are so precious so lovely so comely so excellent and so honourable in his account in his eye as those that have the Image of God of Christ of grace of holiness most clearly most fairly and most fully stampt upon them When a poor Christian can rejoyce in every light in every Sun that out-shines his own when he sees wisdom and knowledge shining in one Saint and faith and love shining in another Saint and humility and lowliness shining in another Saint and meekness and uprightness shining in another Saint and zeal and courage shining in another Saint and patience and constancy shining in another and then can make his retreat to his closet admiring blessing of the Lord for the various graces of his Spirit shining in his children and be frequent and earnest with God that those very graces might shine as so many Suns in his soul doubtless such a poor soul has true grace and is happy and will be happy to all eternity In Tertullian's time the Heathen would point out the Christians by this mark See how they love one another Now to prevent mistakes I shall shew you the several properties of sincere love to the Saints First True love to the Saints is spiritual it is a love for the Image of God that is stampt upon the soul 1 John 5.1 Every one that loveth him that begat 1 John 4.7 loveth him also that is begotten of him A soul that truly loves loves the father for his own sake and the children for the fathers sake If the Image of God be the load-stone that drawes out our love to the Saints then our love is real to them he that does not love the Saints as Saints he that does not love them under a spiritual notion he hath no true affection to them Naturally we hate God Gen. 3.15 1 John 3.12 because he is a holy God and his Law because it is an holy Law and his people because they are a holy people 'T is only the Spirit of God that can inable a man to love a Saint for the image of God that is in him many there are which love Christians for their goods not for their good they love them for the money that is in their purses but not for the grace that is in their hearts many like the Bohemian Cur fawn upon a good suit Love to the Saints for the Image of God stampt upon them is a flower that does not grow in natures garden No man can love grace in another mans heart but he that hath grace in his own men do not more naturally love their parents Prov. 29.10 Ezek. 25.15 and love their children and love themselves than they do naturally hate the image of God upon his people and wayes I have read of one who was so lusty and quarrelsom that he was ready to fight with his own image so often as he saw it in a glass O! how many are there in these dayes that are still a quarrelling and fighting with the image of God wherever they see it True love is for what of the divine nature for what of Christ and grace shines in a man it is one thing to love a godly man and anther thing to love him for godliness Many love godly men as they are Politicians or Potent or Learned or of a sweet nature or affable or related or as they have been kind to them
the face of all fears doubts disputes cavils and objections and though it cannot clear its title to Christ yet will stay and hang it self upon Christ for life and happiness that man is certainly a Believer and will be everlastingly saved Though he slay me yet will I trust in him Job 13.15 if I must die I will die at his feet and in the midst of death expect a better life Mat. 15.22 to 28 that man acts faith to purpose that can love a frowning God and hang upon an angry God and follow hard after a withdrawing God Psal 63.1 8. yea and trust in a killing God as here Job had his Feverish sits and his impatient slips and yet he kept up his heroical resolution to lean upon the Lord whilst he had but one minute to live and this speaks out not only the truth but also the strength of Job's faith in the midst of his extraordinary combats when the soul is peremptorily and habitually resolved to cleave to the person of Christ and to cleave to the merits of Christ Gen. 2.24 Ruth 1.14 15 16 17. Est 4.16 and to cleave to the transactions of Christ with the Father for the salvation of sinners as the wife cleaves to her husband or as the child cleaves to the father or as Ruth cleaved to Naomi or as the Ivy cleaves to the Oak with an If I perish I perish then 't is safe then 't is happy then 't is out of the danger of hell then 't is within the Suburbs of heaven God never did nor never will cast such a man to hell whose soul is drawn forth to a secret resting saying leaning and relying alone upon Christ for the obtaining of all that good and all that glory that he has purchased and his father has promised But Lastly That man that makes it his principle care his main business his work of works to look to his heart to watch his heart and to reform his heart that man doubtless has a saving work of God upon his heart There are two things which a gracious soul most looks at his God and his heart Though a gracious man looks to the cleansing of his hands yet his principle care is the reformation of his heart the cleansing of his heart according to that of the Apostle James Cleanse your hands ye sinners and purifie your hearts ye double minded And that of the Prophet Jeremiah James 4.8 Jer. 4.14 O Jerusalem wash thine heart from wickedness that thou mayest be saved Man must labour after a clean inside as well as a clean outside the conversation must not be only unspotted before the world but the heart also must be unspotted before God the heart is as capable of inward defilements as the body is of outward defilements 2 Cor. 7.1 O Sirs though heart-defilement is least taken notice of yet heart-defilement is the worst defilement and the most dangerous defilement in the world heart-defilement is spiritual defilement Eph. 6.12 Vide â—â—za and spiritual defilement is the defilement of divels which of all defilement is the most hateful odious and pernicious defilement The hypocrites only care is to keep his life from defilement but the sincere Christians care is mainly to keep his heart from defilement for he very well knows that if he can but keep his heart clean he shall with more ease keep his life clean if the fountain be kept pure the streams will run pure The heart is the spring of all actions and therefore every action is as the spring is from whence it flows if the spring be good the action is good that flows from it if the spring be evil the action is evil that flows from it Mâ—â— 2.35 A good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth good things and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart bringeth forth evil things Certainly the great work of a Christian lieth with his heart the reformation of the heart is the highest and choicest part of reformation Prov 23.26 because it is the reformation of the noblest part of man and is that which God looks most after The reformation of the heart is indeed the heart of reformation there is nothing reformed to purpose till the heart be reformed if the heart be naught all is naught if that be very naught all is very naught if that be stark naught all is stark naught but if that be reformed all is reformed A gracious man's watch is mainly about his heart Create in me a clean heart Psal 51.10 Psal 86.11 Psal 119.36 Psal 119 80. Psal 27.8 See Psal 119.2 Acts 8 37. Heb. 8.10 Jer. 31 33. O God and renew a right spirit within me Unite my heart to fear thy name Incline my heart unto thy testimonies Let my heart be sound in thy statutes that I be not ashamed When thou saidest seek my face my heart answered Thy face Lord will I seek Psal 119.10 With my whole heart have I sought thee Ver. 11. Thy word have I hid in my heart that I might not sin against thee Incline my heart unto thy testimonies and not unto covetousness Rom. 1.9 The heart of man is the fountain of life or death and therefore sin in the heart in some respects is worse and more dangerous than sin in the life and hence 't is that the sincere Christian doubles his guard about his heart Luther hit it when he said I more fear what is within me than what comes from without the storms and winds without do never move the earth 't is only vapours within that causeth earth-quakes as Philosophers observe Mat. 23 25-30 Hypocrites as our Saviour testifies are all for the outside they wash the platters and the cups and beautifie the tombs like an adulteress whose care is to paint and set a fair face upon a foul matter but now a sincere Christian Psal 50.23 though he has a special respect to the well-ordering of his life yet his main business and work is about his heart O that this ignorant heart were but more enlightned O that this proud heart were but more humble O that this prophane heart were but more holy O that this earthly heart were but more heavenly O that this unbelieving heart were but more believing O that this passionate heart were but more meek O that this carnal heart were but more spiritual O that this luke-warm heart were but more zealous for God and Christ and the Gospel and the great concernments of eternity O that this slight heart were but more serious O that this dull heart were but more quickned O that this dead heart were but more enlivened c. The highest and hardest work of a Christian lieth with his heart Mark common light common conviction education enforcement of conscience principles of common honesty and morality the eye of man the fear of man the examples of man the laws of man and
shall surely live he shall not die Negative righteousness and holiness is no righteousness no holiness in the account of God Luke 18.5 Mat. 20.13 14. It was not the Pharisees negative righteousness nor his comparative goodness that could prevent his being rejected of God or his being shut out of heaven or his being turned into hell It is not enough that the Tree bears no ill fruit but it must bring forth good fruit else it must be cut down and cast into the fire that Tree that is not for fruit is for the fire Mat. 7.19 Every tree that brings not forth good fruit sayes Christ is hewn down and cast into the fire Heaven at last will be found too holy and too hot to hold such as please themselves as satisfie themselves with a negative righteousness All that negative righteousness and holiness can do is only to help a man to one of the coolest chambers and easiest beds in hell True repentance brings the heart and life not only off from sin but on to God too it takes a man not only off from the wayes of death but it engages him to walk in the paths of life Psal 119.3 They do no iniquity Nazianzene speaking of true repentance very aptly compares the soul to a pair of writing tables out of which must be washed whatsoever was written with sin and instead thereof the writing of grace must be writupon the soul both being necessary to true repentance Jer. 31.19 Job 40.4 5. Jer. 4.1 they walk in his wayes Prov. 13.14 The Law of the wise is a fountain of life to depart from the snares of death Prov. 15.24 The way of life is above to the wise that he may depart from hell beneath Psal 34.14 Depart from evil and do good We read in Scripture of God's returning to us as well as of our returning to God in both there is repentance When God returns to us he repents of the evil of punishment that he hath brought upon us and when we return to God we repent of the evil of sin which we have committed against him The true penitent does not only sadly smite upon his thigh and say what have I done but he also speedily faces about and cryes out I will do so no more When God calls for true repentance it is with an if thou wilt return O Israel return unto me And when the people of God do provoke and encourage one another to repentance Hosea 6.1 it is with a come let us return unto the Lord. Repentance unto life is not a turning from sin to sin nor 't is not a turning from prophaness to civility nor 't is not a turning from civility to formality but 't is a turning from darkness to light Acts 26.18 't is a turning from the wayes of iniquity into the wayes of piety 't is a turning from sin to God In this respect Israel's repentance was very defective witness that sad complaint of the Prophet Hosea 7.16 They return that is they make a shew of repentance but not to the most High So they in that Joel 2.12 have the half turn but returned not to the Lord with all their hearts So Jehu went far and gave many a half turn but never turned to the most High and that was his ruin at last Such a repentance as brings the soul never the neerer to God is a repentance never the neer but that repentance that brings the soul neerer to God is a repentance never to be repented of And let thus much suffice to have spoken concerning that Evangelical Repentance that hath the precious promises of remission of sin and salvation running out unto it c. CHAP. IV. Several have observed to my hand 'T is better that a hundred hypocrites should perish than that one poor Christian should want his portion Cotton on the Covenant page 78. how far an Hypocrite may go but my design in this Chapter is to shew how far an Hypocrite cannot go Many have discovered at large what an Hypocrite can do but my scope in this Chapter is to shew what an Hypocrite cannot do Some have shewed what an Hypocrite is and I shall now shew what he is not Some have shewed the several rounds in Jacob's Ladder that an Hypocrite may climb up to but my business and work in this Chapter is to shew you the several rounds in Jacob's Ladder that no Hypocrite under heaven can climb up to FIrst An Hypocrites inside is never answerable to his outside an Hypocrites inside is one thing Mat. 23.25 26 27 Luke 11.39 and his outside another thing an Hypocrite is outwardly clean but inwardly unclean he is outwardly glorious but inwardly inglorious Hypocrites are like Apothecaries gally pots having without the title of some excellent Preservative but within they are full of some deadly poyson they are like the Egyptian Temples that were beautifull without but within there was nothing to be found but Serpents and Crocodiles and other venemous creatures Hypocrites trade more for a good name than for a good heart for a good report than for a good conscience they are like Fidlers more careful in tuning their Instruments than in watching their spirits Erasmi â—â—milia Hypocrites are like white silver but they draw black lines they have a seeming sanctified outside but stuff'd within with malice worldliness pride envy c. Like window cushions made up of velvet and richly embroydered but stuff'd within with hay An Hypocrite may offer sacrifice with Cain and fast with Jezabel and humble himself with Ahab and lament with the tears of Esau and kiss Christ with Judas and follow Christ with Demas and offer fair for the holy Ghost with Simon Magus Acts 8.23 and yet for all this his inside as bad as any of theirs An Hypocrite is a Cato without and a Nero within a Jacob without and an Esau within a David without and a Saul within a Peter without and a Judas within a Saint without and a Satan within an Angel without and a Devil within Rom. 2.28 29. An Hypocrit is a Jew outwardly but an Atheist a Pagan Lucian a Turk inwardly I have read of certain Images which on the outside were covered with gold and pearl resembling Jupiter and Neptune but within were nothing but spiders and cobwebs a fit resemblance of Hypocrites Hypocrisie is but an outside like cloth of Arras fair and beautiful without but if you look to the inside you shall find nothing but rags and ends That Monk hit it that said To be a Monk in outward shew was easie but to be a Monk in inward reality was hard To be a Christian in outward shew is easie but to be a Christian inwardly and really is very hard An Hypocrites inside never ecco's or answers to his outside his inside is vicious and his outside is Religious But let all such hypocrites know that dissembled sanctity is double iniquity and accordingly at last they
with those who say it is an Hebraism the plural righteousnesses noting that most perfect compleat absolute righteousness which Christ is pleased to put upon his people Upon the account of this righteousness of Christ the Church is said to be without spot or wrinkle Eph. 5.27 and to be all fair Thou art all fair my love Cant. 4.7 Col. 2.10 there is no spot in thee And to be compleat And ye are compleat in him which is the head of all principality â—nd power Rev. 14.5 And to be without fault They are without fault before the throne of God And so Col. 1.21 And to present us holy and unblamable and unreprovable in the sight of God But Fourthly This righteousness of Christ will answer to all the fears doubts and objections of your souls How shall I look up to God the Answer is in the righteousness of Christ How shall I have any communion with a holy God in this world the Answer is in the righteousness of Christ How shall I find acceptance with God the Answer is in the righteousness of Christ How shall I dye the Answer is in the righteousness of Christ How shall I stand before a Judgment-seat the Answer is in the righteousness of Christ Your sure and only way under all temptations fears conflicts doubts and disputes is by faith to remember Christ That was a rare speech of Luther Ipsâ— videret ubi anima mea mansura sit qui pro ea sic solicitus fuit ut vitam pro ea posuerit let him see to it where my soul shall rest who took so much care for it as that he laid down his life for it and the sufferings of Christ as your Mediator and Surety and say O Christ thou art my sin in being made sin for me and thou art my curse in being made a curse for me or rather I am thy sin and thou art my righteousness I am thy curse and thou art my blessing I am thy death and thou art my life I am the wrath of God to thee and thou art the love of God to me I am thy hell and thou art my heaven O Sirs if you think of your sins and of God's wrath if you think of your guiltiness and of God's justice your hearts will fail you and sink into despair if you don't think of Christ if you don't rest and stay your souls upon the Mediatory righteousness of Christ But Fifthly and lastly The righteousness of Christ is the best title that you have to shew for a Kingdom that shakes not Heb. 12.28 1 Pet. 1.3 4 5. 2 Cor. 5.1 2 3 4. for riches that corrupt not for an inheritance that fadeth not away and for an house not made with hands but one eternal in the heavens The righteousness of Christ is your life your joy your comfort your crown your confidence your heaven your all and therefore whether your graces or gracious evidences do sparkle and shine or are clouded or blotted yet still keep a fixed eye and an awakned heart upon the Mediatory righteousness of Jesus Christ for that 's the righteousness by which you may happily live comfortably die and boldly appear before a Judgment-seat But The third Royal Fort that Christians should have their eyes their hearts fixed upon whether their graces or gracious evidences sparkle and shine or are obscured and clouded is the Covenant of grace The Covenant of grace is a new compact or agreement which God hath made with sinful man out of his own meer mercy and grace Deut. 4.23 Isa 55.3 54.7 8 9 10. Jer. 31.31 Psal 50.5 c. Hos 14.4 Tit. 3.6 Eph. 1.5 6 7. Chap. 2.5 7 8. Rom. 9.18 23. Jer. 32.38 39 40 41. Ezek. 36.25 26 27. wherein he undertakes both for himself and for faln man wherein he engages himself to make faln man everlastingly happy All mankind had been eternally lost and God had lost all the glory of his mercy for ever had he not of his own free-grace and mercy made such an agreement with sinful man This Covenant is called a Covenant of grace because it flows from the meer grace and mercy of God There was nothing out of God nor nothing in God but his meer mercy and grace that moved him to enter into Covenant with poor sinners In the Covenant of grace there are two things considerable First the Covenant that God makes for himself to us which consists of these Branches 1. That he will be our God 2. That he will give us a new heart a new spirit 3. That he will not turn away his face from us from doing of us good 4. That he will put his fear into our hearts 5. That he will cleanse us from all our filthiness and from all our Idols 6. That he will rejoyce over us to do us good Secondly here is the Covenant which God doth make for us to himself which consists in these things 1. That we shall be his people 2. That we shall fear him for ever 3. That we shall walk in his Statutes keep his Judgments and do them 4. That we shall not depart from him Upon many accounts I may not enlarge on these things but by these short hints 't is evident that the Covenant of grace is an entire Covenant made by God both for himself and for us O Sirs in the Covenant of grace God stands engaged to give whatsoever he requires 1 Chron. 28.9 First He requires us to know him and he has engaged himself that we shall know him Jer. 24.7 I will give them a heart to know me that I am the Lord. And Jer. 31.34 They shall all know me from the least of them to the greatest of them Heb. 8.11 But Secondly The Lord frequently requires his people to trust in him Psal 62.8 Isa 26.4 2 Chron. 20.20 And he has engaged himself that his people shall trust in him Zeph. 3.12 I will leave in the midst of thee an afflicted and poor people and they shall trust in the name of the Lord. But Thirdly The Lord frequently commands his people to fear him Deut. 6.13 Chap. 8.6 And he has engaged himself that they shall fear him Jer. 32.40 I will put my fear into their hearts that they shall not depart from me Hos 3.5 They shall fear the Lord and his goodness But Fourthly The Lord frequently commands his people to love him Deut. 11.1 Psal 31.23 O love the Lord all ye his Saints And he has promised and engaged himself that his people shall love him Deut. 30.6 The Lord thy God will circumcise thy heart and the heart of thy seed to love the Lord thy God with all thine heart and with all thy soul But Fifthly The Lord frequently commands his people to call upon him and to pray unto him Psal 50.15 1 Thes 5.17 c. And he has promised and engaged himself to pour upon them a spirit of prayer Zech. 12.10 I will pour upon the house of
sent to tender him a great sum of gold which he refused saying He had rather be at his pease while they whom he ruled over had the gold than he to have the gold and they the Pease When some unworthy persons once accused him for keeping back somewhat from the publick he brought forth a wooden platter and did swear That it was all he had reserved to himself of the spoyls He was had in great honour and reputation among the people That Pilot dies nobly saith Seneca who perisheth in the storm with the Helm in his hand Aristides was a man of a publick spirit after the overthrow of the Persians when there was a Mass of treasure gold silver and rich apparel he would not touch it nor take so much as one farthing of it to himself he was in high esteem among the people Tully in his Book of Scipio's dream brings in a dead Father now in heaven as he supposed encouraging his son to do service for his Countrey wherein himself had given him a most noble and notable example upon a very high consideration viz. There is a most sure and certain place in heaven for every man that shall procure the weal of his Countrey either by freeing it from peril or increasing the happiness of it any way To hear a Gentile tell of heaven as of a thing certain to hear him tell of certain places provided there for those that should do vertuously to have the service of ones Countrey pressed on his soul with so celestial an argument what matter of wonder and admiration is it Another speaking of men of publick spirits saith Such ennobled spirits they are the dear off-spring Cicero the delight and care of God a divine race it is from the heavens they come down to us and to the heavens again when ever they take their leaves of us shall they triumphantly return A Cataline sayes the Satyrist a trouble of mankind grows as the weed Jur. almost every where but a Brutus a worthy Patriot that bears the welfare of others the true prosperity of his native Land upon his heart and sets his eyes perpetually thereon for good such an one is a rare jewel worthy of all honour and embraces where ever he is found Men of publick spirits of all men 1 Sam. 2.30 do most exalt the Lord and honour the Lord and therefore the Lord first or last will most exalt them and honour them In all the Ages of the world and in all the Nations of the world men of most publick spirits have been best beloved and most highly honoured A man of a narrow spirit is like the Hedge-hog that never goes abroad but to gather what he can for himself who ever suffer by it but a man of a publick spirit is like the Pellican that draws out her own blood for the good of others and therefore the light of nature as well as the Law of grace will lead men by the hand to honour such Fourthly Men of publick spirits do most and best answer to one of the noblest and highest ends of their creation Doth the Bee gather honey for it self Doth the Sheep yield wool for it self Doth not all creatures serve the community Non nobis solum nati said the Heathen By the Law of creation every man is bound to serve the publick to serve his generation A narrow a private spirited man is a shame to his Creation because he walks so contrary to the great intendment of God in it 'T is a base and unworthy spirit for a man to make himself the Center of all his actions The very Heathen man could say That a mans Countrey and his Friends and others challenge a great part of him That man sins against the very Law of his being who is swallowed up in his own private interests Men of publick spirits should not bear the sword of justice in vain for by the Law of creation they are bound so to handle it as to be a terror to evil doers Rom. 13.3 4 and a praise to them that do well 'T is cruelty to the good to spare the bad 't is wrong to the Sheep to let the Wolves alone 't is the death of the Lambs to spare the Lions If you will pity Cataline sayes one pity Rome much more let the whole have a share in your pity rather than a part Pereat unus magis quam unitas better have one injurious person sit mourning than a whole Nation languishing c. Men of publick spirits should be for the ease of all and the peace of all and the comfort of all and the encouragement of all and the safety of all But this Age is full of Droans and Cyphers and of spiritless lifeless men who look at nothing who design nothing who aim at nothing and who endeavour nothing but how to raise themselves and greaten themselves and inrich themselves and build up themselves though it be upon others ruinnes How many are there who are so swallowed up in their own interests and private concernments that Gallio-like they care not whether the publick sink or swim Acts 18.7 These put me in mind of Jothams Parable Judg. 9.8 9 10 11 c. The Trees went forth to anoint a King over them They go to the Olive to the Fig-tree and to the Vine but shall I leave my fatness saith the Olive shall I leave my sweetness saith the Fig-tree and shall I leave my wine saith the Vine and go up and down for other Trees This is the very temper spirit and carriage of many in our day If you go to them and desire them to lay out themselves for the publick good What say some shall we leave our ease our pleasure our profits And say others Shall we run this and that hazard Shall we lose such and such friends and create to our selves such and such enemies to serve other men to save other men to advantage other men we cannot do it we will never do it Learned Tully was a zealous Patriot and lover of his Countrey he wished two wishes though he never saw either of them effected one was That he might see Rome setâ—led in its just liberties and the other was That he might see every mans estate pâ—oportionable to his affection and love to the publick Deubtless if Tullies wish might take place in our times the purses of many would be more empty and the publick Coffers would be more full But Fifthly Of all men on earth there are none that have such a stock of prayers going for them as men of publick spirits Men of publick spirits are not only most highly prized and cordially loved and greatly honoured but they are also most upon the hearts of all sober and serious Christians when they are in the Mount with God The lives of such are most desirable and the deaths of such will be most lamented who make it their business to serve their generation 2 Chron. 21.20
poor The safest chest is the poor mans Box. God will never forget your charity to his Heb. 6.10 Cicero could say that to be rich is not to possess much but to use much And Seneca could rebuke them that so studied to encrease their wealth that they forget to use it being perswaded that God doth bless their increase the more for they have among them a very elegant Proverb to that purpose Decima ut dives fias Pay thy tythes that thou mayest be rich The poor mans hand is Christs Treasury and he shall not lose his reward that casts his mites into that Treasury It is fabled of Midas that what ever he touched he turned it into gold But this is most sure that whatever the hand of charity toucheth it turneth it into gâ—ld be it but a cup of cold water nay into heaven it self Mat. 10.42 And whosoever shall give to drink unto one of these little ones a cup of cold water only in the name of a Disciple verily I say unto you he shall in no wise lose his reward Cold water having not fuel to heat it cold water which cost not the charge of fire to warm it A Sea of pleasures a heaven of blessings attends men of charitable minds though their charity can extend no further than to a cup of cold water for God measures mens deeds by their minds and not their minds by their deeds The Kenites in Sauls time that were born many Ages after Jethro's death received life from his dust and favour from his hospitality nay the very Egyptians for harbouring and at first dealing kindly with the Israelites though without any respect to their righteousness were preserved by Joseph in that sore famine and kindly dealt with ever after by Gods special command I have read a story of one Evagâ—i a rich man who lying upon his death-bed and being importuned by Sinesius a pious Bishop to give something to charitable uses he yielded at last to give three hundred pounds but first took bond of the Bishop that it should be repaid him in another world but before he had been one day dead he is said to have appeared to the Bishop delivering in the bond cancelled as thereby acknowledging that what was promised was made good Whether the Relation be fabulous or not I shall not now stand to determine but this is certain that all acts of charity shall be certainly and signatly rewarded Several Writers observe that the ground is most barren nearest the golden Mines and experience tells us that many who are enriched with fair estates are most barren in good works but this will be bitterness in the end He that shall consult two Scriptures among many others will conclude that he that hath a withered hand has no honest heart 2 Chron. 31.10 1 John 3.17 The wealth that such men have is but as Aristotle calls it Arist Rhetor. l. 2. c. 6. Foelix amentia a happy madness because they are so taken up with their wealth that they neither know what they are nor what they do Josephus writing of the waters of Egypt saith That they were blood in the hands of an Aegyptian but water in the hand of an Israelite Wealth in the hand of a worldling is like blood in the hand which is good for nothing Josephus but wealth in the hand of a charitable Christian is like water in the hand which may be of use both to a mans self and others By what has been said there is nothing more evident than this viz. That men of publick spirits and men of charitable spirits of all men on earth are 1. To be most highly prized 2. Most cordially loved And 3. Most greatly honoured c. Gentlemen those that shall read what I have writ in this Epistle concerning publick spiritedness and charitableness and know you well they know how to make the Application without any further direction from me Sir John I must crave leave to say that it is and will be your honour and comfort both in life and death and in the day of your account that in all the great Places Offices and Employments unto which divine Providence has called you for divers years together you have laid out your time your strength your estate for the publick good when others have been serving themselves upon the publick you have been a serving of the publick Sir 't is your great mercy and happiness that you can stand forth and say as once Samuel did Behold here I am witness against me 1 Sam. 12.3 whose Ox have I taken or whose Ass have I taken or whom have I defrauded whom have I oppressed or of whose hand have I received any bribe to blind mine eyes therewith Your prudence and moderation before your Mayoralty and in it when you had many a narrow bridge to go over and after it to this day will never be forgotten by all sober Citizens Sir the French History tells us that when an old Courtier would needs depart from the Court and retire himself to a private life the King desired him to leave his advice in some general Rules about the Government of his Kingdom Upon this motion of the King the old Courtier took a sheet of white paper and writ upon the top of the leaf Moderation and in the middle of the leaf Moderation and at the bottom of the leaf Moderation intimating to the King that the only way to keep his Kingdom in Peace and Prosperity was to manage his Government throughout with a spirit of Moderation When Vespasian asked Apollonius what was the cause of Nero's ruin he answered That Nero could tune the Harp well but in Government he did alwayes wind up the strings too high or let them down too low Both of your staying in London in the time of the last great Plague when death peep'd in at every window and when most Magistrates Ministers and People were fled from their Habitations the terror of the Lord and of his judgments being very great in that day upon all sorts and ranks of men and that chiefly mainly if not only upon the account of publick service and that nothing might be wanting on your side to preserve poor creatures from perishing The old Romans for lesser services than you did in these dismal dayes have set up many a statue of brass but the Lord is faithful and will not forget to reward your work your great work your hazardous work and that matchless love and bowels that you shew'd to very many that were impoverished for want of Trade and to very many that lay in a sick languishing and dying condition How free how full how seasonable how sutable how impartial how constant and well regulated your charity then was and since hath been is very well known to God above and to some faithful friends still alive but all will out in the great day Mat. 25. I know you don't love that your left hand should know what your
A graceless heart is more abundantly willing to be freed from punishment the effect of sin than 't is willing to be freed from sin the cause of punishment A gracious heart sees more filthiness in sin than in Frogs and had rather be rid of his sins than of all the Frogs or Toads that be in the World See what a sad spirit was upon the children of Israel in that Numb 21.6 7. Heb. Burning Serpents thus they are called from the effect of their biting which caused a mortal burning and consequently such an excessive thirst as killed them And the Lord sent Fiery Serpents among the people and they bite the people and much people of Israel dyed Therefore the people came to Moses and said We have sinned for we have spoken against the Lord and against thee pray unto the Lord that he take away the Serpents from us Now mark in the fifth verse you have them murmuring against God and Moses and divine dispensations and nauseating of the Wheat of Heaven as light meat because they came lightly by it they distrust the Providence of God they let fly at God their spirit swels against the holy one of Israel and they scorn deride revile and contumeliously and despitefully speak against Moses and though they had often smarted for these sins yet they are at them again upon this God sends an Army of Fiery Serpents among them and they bite and devour many of them And now they run to Moses who but a little before they had despised and are very importunate with him to pray to the Lord to take away the Serpents from them They do not desire Moses to improve his interest in Heaven that God would take away their proud hearts their distrustful hearts their murmuring hearts c. but that God would take away the Serpents they were much more desirous to be rid of their Serpents than they were to be rid of their sins So those in Jer. 30.15 Why cryest thou for thine affliction thy sorrow is incurable for the multitude of thine iniquity because thy sins were encreased I have done these things unto thee They do not cry out of their sins but they cry out of their afflictions Why cryest thou for thine affliction unsound hearts are more ready and willing to be rid of their afflictions than they are willing to have their Souls bettered or their lives mended or their lusts subdued by them Pilate was unwilling to condemn Jesus witness his seeking to release him and his washing his hands and his pleading his innocency c. Matth. 27.17 18 22 23 24. but yet the prevailing part of his will carryed him forth to deliver up Jesus to be scourged and Crucified v. 26. So Herod was unwilling to behead John Baptist witness that word The King was exceeding sorry Mark 6.26 But yet the prevailing part of his will carried him forth to cut off John's head v. 27. whose head was more worth than Herods Kingdom So Darius was very unwilling to cast Daniel into the Lyons Den witness his being sore displeased with himself and witness his setting his heart on Daniel to deliver him and witness his great unquietness of spirit for he could neither eat nor drink nor sleep the night after he was cast into the Lyons Den and witness his great joy at Daniels safety Dan. 6.14 18 19 20. All which did clearly argue a very great unwillingness that Daniel should suffer and yet the prevailing part of Darius his will carried him forth to sacrifice Daniel to the Lyons yea to that which was worse viz. the lusts of his enemies v. 16 17. By all these instances 't is most evident that the prevalent part of a wicked mans will stands most strongly byafs'd towards sin But now the prevalent part of a Christians will is to be rid of sin If the Lord should say to a gracious Christian Ask what thou wilt O Christian and it shall be granted to thee the Answer would be Lord rid me of my sins Lord take away mine iniquities Lord mortify my corruptions Lord whoever lives let these lust dye Lord drown these Egyptians in the Sea of thy Sons blood who have so violently and unweariedly pursued after the Blood of my precious Soul Lord kill and crucify all these sinful evils that have killed and Crucified the Lord of life and glory Psal 5.2 7. Lord wash me throughly from mine iniquity and cleanse me from my sin Lord purge me with Hysop and I shall be clean wash me and I shall be whiter than Snow Lord carnal reason and flesh and bloud would fain have such and such pleasurable sins and such and such profitable sins indulged and spared but Lord the earnest the ardent desires of my soul are that I may be rid of them and that Justice to the heighth may be done upon them Lord be but the death of my sins and my soul shall say My lot is fallen in a pleasant place and verily I have a goodly heritage Lord cleanse me but from all filthiness both of flesh and spirit and I shall cry Hâ—sanna to thee Matth. 21.9 Psal 16.6 2 Cor. 7.1 Lord let me but out live my lusts and follow them to the Grave before others follow me to my Grave and I shall say it is enough And thus every gracious Soul is more willing to be rid of his sins than he is to keep his sins A Porter cannot be more willing to be rid of his burden nor a sick man to be rid of his disease nor a Beggar of his nasty louzy rags nor a Prisoner of his chains than a gracious Soul is willing to be rid of his lusts c. Fourthly That Soul that does not nor through Grace assisting will not allow himself or indulge himself in a course of sin or in the common practise of any known sin that Soul is certainly a gracious soul The evil that I do Rom. 7.15 I allow not So Psal 119.1 3. Blessed are the undefiled in the way that walk in the Law of the Lord they also do no iniquity that is they allow not themselves in the practice of any iniquity Blessed souls live not in the service of sin they live not in an ordinary practice of any iniquity 1 John 3.9 Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin for his seed remaineth in him and he cannot sin because he is born of God He that has the seed of God the seed of Grace and Regeneration in him he cannot allow himself in away of sin he cannot give himself over to a voluntary serving of sin he cannot make a Trade of sin So Prov. 16.17 The highway of the upripht is to depart from evil that is it is the ordinary usual constant course of an upright man to depart from evâ—l An honest Traveller may step out of the Kings Highway into a house a Wood a Close but his work his business is to go on in the Kings Highway So the business the work
haughty some hasty and the like or as in every mans body there is a seed and principle of death yet some are more prone to die of a Fever than of a Dropsie and others are more prone to die of a Dropsie than of a Fever c. So though original sin hath spread it self over all our noble and ignoble parts yet every man hath his particular inclinations to one kind of sin rather than another and this may properly be called a mans own sin his own evil way Now mark a gracious heart makes most head most opposition against his darling sin against his complexion sin against those sins that were once as dear to him as his right hand or as his right eye or as Dalilah was to Sampson Herodias to Herod Isaac to Abraham and Joseph to Jacob Psal 18.23 I was also upright before him and I kept my self from mine iniquâ—ty That is from my darling sin whereunto I was most inclined and addicted what this bosom sin was that he kept himself from In that 1 Sam. 21.2 8. he tells three or four round lyes and the like he did in that 1 Sam. 27.8 10. is hard to say Some suppose his darling sin was lying dissembling for it is certain he often fell into this sin Psal 119.29 Remove from me the way of lying others suppose it to be some secret iniquity which was only known to God and his own conscience others say it was uncleanness and that therefore he prayed that God would turn away his eyes from beholding vanity Psal 119.37 Others juge it to be that sin of disloyalty which Saul and his Courtiers falsly charged upon him Well be it this or that it is enough for our purpose that his heart did rise against that very sin that either by custom or complexion or some strong inclination he was most naturally apt ready and prone to fall into This is the laying of the ax to the root of the Tree and by this practise David gives a clear proof of the integrity of his heart Jer. 17.1 2. Hos 2. â— Isa 31.6 7. 44.9 c. Idolatry was the darling sin of the people of Israel they called their Idols delectable or desirable things they did dearly affect and greatly delight in their Idols But when the Lord in the day of his power wrought savingly and gloriously upon their hearts Oh! how did their hatred and indignation against their Idols rise as you may see Isa 30.22 Ye shall defile also the covering of thy graven images of silver and the ornament of thy moiten images of gold thou shalt cast them away as a menstrous cloth thou shaâ—t say unto it get thee hence They were so delighted and enamouâ—ed with their Idols that they would lavish gold out of the bag or they waste or spend riotously as the Hebrew runs that they might richly deck them up Isa 46.6 After the return of the Jews out of Babylon they so hated and abhorted Idols that in the times of the Romans they chose rather to die than to suffâ—r the Eagle which was the imperial arms to be set up in their Temple and set them forth in the greatest glory and bravery O but when the Lord should make a glorious turn upon their spirits then they should readily and roundly deface defile and disgrace their Idols then they should hate and abhor them then they should so detest and loath them that in a holy indignation they should cast them away as a menstrous cloth and say unto them get ye hence pack be gone I will never have any more to do with you And so in that Isa 2.20 In that day that is in the day of his people vers 17. A man shall cast his idols of silver and hâ—s idols of gold which they made each one for himself to worship to the Moles and to the Bats In the day when God should exalt himself in the souls of his people and before the eyes of his people they should express such disdain and indignation against their Idols that they should not take only those made of Trees and Stones but even their most precious and costly Idols those that were made of silver and gold and cast them to the Moles and to the Bats that is they should cast them into such blind holes and into such dark filthy nasty and dusty corners as Moles make under ground and as Bats roust in So when Christ and grace and holiness comes to be set up in mens hearts and lives then all their darling sins their bosom lusts which are their Idols of silver and their Idols of gold these are with a holy indignation cast to the Moles and to the Bats they are so loathed abhorred abandoned and cashiered that they desire they may be for ever buried in oblivion and never see the light more Idols were Ephraim's bosom sin Hos 4.17 Ephraim is joyned or glewed as the word signifies to Idols let him alone But when the dew of grace fell upon Ephraim as it did in Chap. 14.5 6 7. Then saith Ephraim What have I any more to do with Idols ver 8. Now Ephraim loaths his Idols as much or more than before he loved them he now abandons and abominates them though before he was as closly glewed to them as the wanton is glewed to his Dalilah or as the enchanter is glewed to the Devil from whom by no means he is able to stir as the words in the fountain imports When it was the day of the Lords power upon Ephraim then Ephraim cryes out What have I any more to do with Idols O I have had to do with them too long and too much already O how doth my foul now rise against them how do I detest and abhor them Deut. 13.6 7 8 9. Surely I will never have more to do with them The Scripture tells us That if father or mother or brother or sister or kinsman or friend should go about to draw a man from God his hand should be first upon him to put him to death Now bosom sins complexion sins they seek to draw a mans heart from God and therefore a gracious soul can't but rise up against them Gen. 27.41 and do his best to stone them and to be the death of them The dayes of mourning for my father are at hand saith bloudy Esau then will I slay my brother Jacob 't is a bloudy speech of a vindictive spirit whom nothing would satisfie but innocent bloud So saith the gracious soul The dayes of mourning for the death of my dear Saviour are now at hand and therefore I will slay my bosom lusts my constitution sins now will I be revenged on them for all the dishonours that they have done to God and for all the wounds that they have made in my conscience and for all the mercies that they have imbittered and for all the favours that they have prevented and for all the afflictions that they have procured and
Hebrew runs Any way of pain or of grief or of provocation that is any course of sin that is grievous or provoking to the eyes of divine glory A real Saint can neither allow of sin nor wallow in sin nor be transformed into the image of sin nor mix it self with sin 'T is possible for a sincere Christian to step into a sinful path or to touch upon sinful facts Gal. 6.1 Prov. 16.17 and now and then in an hour of temptation to slide to trip and to be overtaken unawares but his main way his principle work is to depart from iniquity As a true traveller may now and then step a few steps out of his way who yet for the main keeps his way keeps the road or as a Bee may now and then light upon a thistle but her main work is to be gathering at the flowers or as a Sheep may now and then slip into the dirt or into a slow but its main work is to be grazing upon the mountains Certainly O soul if sin be now thy greatest burden it shall never hereafter prove thy eternal bane God never yet sent any man to hell for sin to whom sin has commonly been the greatest hell in this world God has but one hell and that is for those to whom sin has been commonly a heaven in this world That man that hates sin and that daily enters his protest against sin that man shall never be made miserable by sin Sin in a wicked man is like poyson in a serpent it is in its natural place it is delightful to a sinner but sin in a Saint is like poyson in a man's body it is offensive and the heart rises against it and is carried forth to the use of all divine Antidotes whereby it may be expelled and destroyed nothing will satisfie a gracious soul but the heart bloud of his lusts Now he shall never be damned for his sins whose heart is set upon killing his sins Seventeenthly Such a poor soul that dares not say that God is his God or that Christ is his Redeemer or that he has a work of grace upon his heart yet can say with some integrity of heart before the Lord that if God and Christ grace and glory holiness and happiness were offered to him on the one hand and all the honours pleasures profits delights and carnal contents of the world were offered him on the other hand he had infinitely rather ten thousand thousand times chuse God and Christ grace and glory holiness and happiness than the contrary Certainly such a soul has true grace in him and a saving work past upon him for none can freely seriously habitually resolutely chuse God and Christ grace and glory holiness and happiness as their summum bonum chiefest good but such who are really good 1 John 4.19 Deut. 7.6 7 8 9. 26.17 18 19. Look as our love to God is but an effect of his love to us We love him because he first loved us so our chusing of God for our God is but an effect of God's chusing us for his people we chuse him because he first chose us Such who in their serious choice set up God and Christ above all other persons and things such God will certainly make happy and blessed for ever God never did nor never will reject those or damn those who really chuse him for their God and for their great all The greatest part of the world chuse their lusts rather than God and the creatures rather than Christ Luke 12.21 they chuse rather to be great than gracious to be rich in this world than to be rich towards God to be outwardly happy than to be inwardly holy Mat. 10.42 to have a heaven on earth than to have a heaven after death and so they miscarry for ever That soul that with Mary has chosen the better part that soul with Mary shall be happy for ever every man must stand or fall for ever as his choice has been But Eighteeenthly Canst thou truly say in the presence of the great and glorious God that is the searcher of all hearts Psal 139.23 24. that thou hast given up thy heart and life to the rule authority and government of Jesus Christ and that thou hast chosen him to be thy Soveraign Lord and King and art truly willing to submit to his dominion as the only precious and righteous government and as the only holy and heavenly sweeâ— and pleasant profitable and comfortable safe and best dominion in all the world and to resign up thy heart thy will thy affections thy life thy all really to Christ wholly to Christ Isa 26.13 and only to Christ Canst thou O poor soul look up to heaven and truly say O dear Lord Jesus other Lords viz. the world the flesh and the devil have had dominion too long over me but now these Lords I do heartily renounce Isa 33.22 I do utterly renounce I do for ever renounce and do give up my self to thee as my only Lord beseeching thee to rule and reign over me for ever and ever O Lord though sin rages and Satan roars and the world sometimes frowns and sometimes fawns yet I am resolved to own thee as my only Lord and to serve thee as my only Lord and my greatest fear by divine assistance shall be of offending thee and my chiefest care shall be to please thee and my only joy shall be to be a praise a name and an honour to thee O Lord I can appeal to thee in the sincerity of my heart Psal 65.3 Rom. 7.23 that though I have many invincible sins weaknesses and infirmities that hang upon me and though I am often worsted by my sins and overcome in an hour of temptation yet thou that knowest all thoughts and hearts thou dost know that I have given up my heart and life to the obedience of Jesus Christ and do daily give them up to his rule and government and 't is the earnest desire of my soul above all things in this world that Jesus Christ may still set up his Laws in my heart and exercise his dominion over me Now certainly there is not the weakest Christian in all the world but can venture himself upon such an appeal to God as this is and without all peradventure where such a frame and temper of spirit is there the dominion of Jesus Christ is set up and where the dominion of Christ is set up there sin has no dominion for the dominion of sin and the dominion of Christ are inconsistent and therefore such a soul is happy and will be happy to all eternity But Cant. 8.5 Acts 11.21 22 23 Psal 71.16 Isa 61.10 Nineteenthly That man that will venture his soul upon Christ and that will lean upon Christ and cleave to Christ with full purpose of heart and that will cleave to his bloud and cleave to his righteousness and cleave to his merits and satisfaction in
his pride his hardness his obdurateness his envy his malice his hatred c. but he cryes out take away the judgment take away the judgment take away the frogs take away the lice take away the caterpillars c. But under all these dreadful and amazing judgments that he was under such a word as this never fell from his lips take away my sin O Lord take away my sins thy judgments do terrifie me but my sins will damn me and therefore what ever becomes of my life kingdom and crown take away my sins and save my soul David saw sin to be a greater evil than flying before his enemies or than famine or pestilence was and therefore he desires rather to be rid of his sins than to be rid of the punishment that was due to his sin but Pharaoh saw no such evil in sin and therefore he cryes out take away the plague take away the plague And Job upon the dunghil cryes out I have sinned what shall I do unto thee O thou preserver of men Job Job 7.20 does not cry out O I have lost all my substance I am bereaved of all my children I am set as naked upon the dunghil as ever I was born my friends reproach me my wife tempts me to curse my God which is ten thousand times worse than to curse my self Satan persecutes me and God has not only forsaken me but is also become a severe enemy to me c. Job cryes out of his sin and not of his sufferings a deep sense of his sins swallows up as it were all sense of his sufferings And so that great Apostle Paul does not cry out O wretched man that I am that bonds attend me in every place and that I have neither house nor home to go to and that I am despised scorned reproached and persecuted and that I am accounted factious seditious rebellious erronious and that I am lookt upon as the off-scouring of the world c. O no but he cryes out of his sin O wretched man that I am who shall deliver me from this body of death Rom. 7.23 24. So the Prophet Micah I will bear the indignation of the Lord because I have sinned Micah 7.9 Though of all burdens the indignation of the Lord be the greatest burden yet divine indignation is but a light burden in comparison of sin A gracious soul can better stand under the burden of God's indignation for sin than it can stand under the burden of sin it self which hath kindled that indignation c. Thirdly Godly sorrow is a great sorrow 't is a superlative sorrow 't is a sad and serious sorrow a sincere mourning is a deep mourning it springs from serious and deep apprehensions of the great anger and deep displeasure of God and of the woful nature demerit burden bitterness vileness and filthiness of sin c. The blessed Scripture seems to make godly sorrow a superlative sorrow calling it a great mourning like the mourning of Hadadrimmon in the valley of Megiddo and a bitterness as one is in for his first-born Zech. 12.10 11. And so the Church My bowels are troubled within me mine heart is turned within me for I have grievously reâ—elled Lamen 1.20 And David watered his couch with his tears Psal 6.6 And Mary Magdalen wept much as Well as she loved much Luke 7. And Peter went out and wept bitterly Mat. 26. ult Clement observes that all the time that Peter lived after this great fall he would every night when he heard the cock crow fall upon his knees and weep bitterly Hosea 7.14 Look as shallow brooks make the greatest noise so hypocrites and formalists may howl and roar and cry and make more noise than the true penitent but yet the sorrow of a true penitent is more inward secret solid still and deep As you know the deepest Rivers run most silently and make least noise so the deepest sorrow makes least noise The mourning of repenting souls Ezek. 7.16 Isa 51.20 Isa 59.11 under the apprehensions of their sins is like the mourning of Doves but the mourning of wicked men under the apprehension of their sins is like the bellowing of Bulls and roaring of Bears Fourthly A sincere mourning is an extensive mourning 't is an universal mourning Godly sorrow and grief extends it self not only to some sins but to all sins great and small Look as a holy heart hates all sin so a holy heart mourns over all sin that it sees and knows to be sin God hates one sin as well as another and he has forbid one sin as well as another and he has revealed his wrath from heaven against one sin as well as another and he is provoked by one sin as well as another and Christ is crucified by one sin as well as another and the Spirit is grieved as well by one sin as by another and the Gospel is reproached by one sin as well as another and the conscience is wounded by one sin as well as another and Satan is gratified by one sin as well as another and wicked mens mouths are opened by one sin as well as another and young comers on in Religion are stumbled grieved and offended by one sin as well as another and the soul is endangered by one sin as well as another An unsound heart may mourn for great sins that make great wounds in his conscience and credit and that leave a great blot upon his name or that waste or rot his body or destroy his estate or that expose him to publick scorn and shame c. Prov. 5 8-14 but for sins of omission for wandring thoughts idle words deadness coldness slightness in religious duties and services unbelief secret pride self-confidence and a thousand more such gnats as these he can swallow without any remorse But now godly sorrow is of a general extent it mourns as well for small sins as for great Davids heart smote him as well for cutting off the lap of Saul's garment as it did for killing of Uriah with the sword A gracious soul weeps over many sins that none can charge upon him but God and his own conscience Psal 19.12 O cleanse thou me from secret faults Yea let me say that godly sorrow and grief extends not only to a man 's own sins but also to the sins of others as well as his own Ezek. 9.4 5. And this you may see also in David Psal 119.53 136 158. And in Jeremiah Jer. 9.1 2 3. And in Paul Phil. 3.18 And in Lot 2 Pet. 2.7 8. And if you please to turn to my Treatise on Holiness you may see seven special arguments for this their practise Page 139 to pag. 145. and therefore a touch in this place may suffice Fifthly Godly sorrow is a lasting sorrow 't is a durable sorrow as long as a Christian continues sinning he can't but continue mourning David's sins were alwayes before him Psal 51.3 though his Absalom nor his Bathsheba were not
ever before him Godly sorrow will every day follow sin hard at hells Look as a wicked man in respect of his desire and will to sin would sin for ever if he should live for ever so I may say if a godly man should live for ever he would sorrow for ever After Paul had been converted many years some think fourteen you shall find him a mourning and lamenting over his sins Rom. 7. An ingenious child will never cease mourning till he ceases from offending an indulgent father Though sin and godly sorrow were never born together yet whilst a believer lives in this world they must live together And indeed holy joy and godly sorrow are no wayes inconsistent Psal 2.11 yea a godly man's eyes are alwayes fullest of tears when his heart is fullest of holy joy c. A man may go joying and mourning to his grave yea to heaven at the same time But now the sorrow the grief of wicked men for sin 't is like a morning cloud or the early dew or the crackling of thorns under a pot or a Post that quickly passeth by or a dream that soon vanisheth or like a tale that is told c. their sorrowful hearts and mournful eyes soon dry up together As you may see in Esau Ahab Pharaoh and Judas but the streams of godly sorrow will last and run as long as sin hangs upon us and dwells in us 1 Cor. 15.9 I am the least of the Apostles that am not meet to be called an Apostle because I persecuted the Church of God Psal 25.7 Remember not the sins of my youth nor my transgressions David prayeth to the Lord not only to forgive but also to forget both the sins of his youth and the sins of his age David remembred all his faults both of former and of later times David was well in years when he defiled himself with Bathsheba and this he remembers and mourns over Psal 51. And 't is very observable that God charged his people for to remember old sins Deut. 9.7 Remember and forget not how thou provokedst the Lord thy God to wrath in the wilderness Repentance is a grace and must have its daily operation as well as other graces witness the very covenant of grace it self Ezek. 16.62 63. I will establish my covenant with thee and thou shalt know that I am the Lord that thou mayest remember and be confounded and never open thy mouth any more because of thy shame when I am pacified towards thee for all that thou hast done Certainly a true penitent can no more satisfie himself with one act of repentance than he can satisfie himself with one act of faith or or with one act of hope or with one act of love or with one act of humility or with one act of patience or with one act of self-denial Godly sorrow is a Gospel-grace that will live and last as well and as long as other graces 't is a spring that in this life can never be drawn dry Sixthly Godly sorrow is a divorcing sorrow it divorces the heart from sin it breaks that ancient league that has been between the heart and sin It is an excellent saying of Austin He doth truly bewail the sins he hath committed who never commits the sins he hath bewailed there is a strong firm league between every sinner and his sin Isa 28.15 18. but when godly sorrow enters it dissolves that league it separates between a sinner and his sin it sets the soul at an everlasting distance from sin The union between the root and the branches the foundation and the building the head and the members the father and the child the husband and the wife the body and the soul are all neer very neer unions yet that between a sinner and his sin seems to be a neerer union Observable is the story of Phaltiel 2 Sam. 3.14 15 16. You know when David had married Michol Saul injuriously gave her to another but when David came to the crown and sent forth his Royal commands that his wife should be brought to him her husband dares not but obey brings her on her journey and then not without great reluctancy of spirit takes his leave of her But what was Phaltiel weary of his wife that he now forsakes her O no he was enforced and though she was gone yet he had many a sad thought about parting with her and he never leaves looking till he sees her as far as Baharim weeping and bemoaning her absence Just thus stands the heart of every unregenerate man towards his sins as Phaltiel's heart stood towards his wife But when the springs of godly sorrow rise in the soul the league the friendship the union that was between the sinner and his sins comes to be dissolved and broken in pieces Hosea 14.8 All godly sorrow sets the heart against sin he that divinely mourns over sin can't live in a course of sin when of all bitters God makes sin to be the greatest bitter to the soul then the soul bids an everlasting farewel to sin now the soul in good earnest bids adieu to sin for ever O Sirs ☜ this is a most certain Maxim to live and die with that either a mans sins will make an end of his mourning or else his mourning will make an end of his sin for he that holds on sinning will certainly leave off mourning no man can make a trade of sin and yet keep his heart in a mourning frame but he that holds on mourning for sin will certainly leave off the trade of sin holy grief for sin will sooner or later break off all leagues and friendships with sin Isa 59.1 2. As sin makes a separation between God and a man's soul so godly sorrow makes a separation between a man's soul and his sin All holy mournings over sin will by degrees issue in the wasting and weakning of the strength and power of sin nothing below the death and destruction of sin will satisfie that soul that truly mourns over sin But now though you may find an unsound heart sometimes a lamenting over his sins yet you shall never find him a leaving off his sins Pharaoh lamented over his sin crying out I have sinned Exod. 9.27 10.16 the Lord is righteous and I and my people are wicked And again Then Pharaoh called for Moses and for Aaron in haste and he said I have sinned against the Lord your God and against you But though you find him here lamenting and complaining over his sin yet you never find him leaving or forsaking of his sin So Saul could cry out he had sinned but yet he still continued in his sin he acknowledged that he did evil in persecuting of David and yet he still held on persecuting of him An unsound heart mourns over sin and yet he holds on in a course of sin he sins and mourns and mourns and sins and commonly all his mourning for sin does but the more imbolden him
in a way of sin but the gracious soul sayes with Job Job 34.32 If I have done iniquity I will do it no more He laments over sin and leaves it he confesses it and forsakes it and he is as willing to forgo it as he is willing that God should forgive it Seventhly All and if you please I shall give you many things in one godly sorrow is the fruit and effect of Evangelical faith it flows from faith as the stream from the fountain the branch from the root and the effect from the cause Zech. 12.10 They shall look upon him whom they have pierced and shall mourn for him as one mourneth for his only son and shall be in bitterness for him as one that is in bitterness for his first-born Look as all legal sorrow flows from a legal faith as you may see in Ahab's and the Ninevites so all Evangelical sorrow flows from an Evangelical faith They shall look upon him whom they have pierced and mourn All gracious mourning flows from looking from believing nothing breaks the heart of a sinner like a look of faith all tears of godly sorrow drop from the eye of faith godly sorrow rises and falls as faith rises and falls faith and godly sorrow are like the fountain and the floud which rise and fall together The more a man is able by faith to look upon a pierced Christ the more his heart will mourn over all the dishonours that he has done to Christ the more deep and wide the wounds are that faith shews me in the heart and sides of Christ the more my heart will be wounded for sining against Christ Again godly sorrow is not an enemy but a friend to holy joy I have read of a holy man who lying upon his sick bed and being askt which were his joyfullest dayes that ever he had cryed out O give me my mourning dayes give me my mourning dayes again for they were the joyfullest dayes that ever I had The higher the springs of godly sorrow rise the higher the tydes of holy joy rise his graces will flourish most who Evangelically mourns most Grace alwayes thrives best in that garden that heart that is watered most with the tears of godly sorrow He that grieves most for sin will rejoyce most in God and he that rejoyces most in God will grieve most for sin Again the more a man apprehends of the love of God and of the love of Christ and the more a man tastes and is assured of the love of the Father and of the love of the Son the more that person will grieve and mourn that he has offended provoked and grieved such a Father and such a Son Remember this as a man's assurance of peace and reconciliation with God rises so his grief for sin rises the more clear and certain evidences a man has of the love and favour of God to his soul the more that man will grieve and mourn for sinning against such a God There is nothing that thaws and melts the heart that softens and breaks the heart like the warm beams of divine love as you may see in the case of Mary Magdalen Luk. 7. she loved much and she wept much for much was forgiven her a sight of the free grace and love of Christ towards her in an act of forgiveness broke her heart all in pieces A man can't stand under the shinings of divine love with a frozen heart nor yet with dry eyes the more a man sees of the love of Christ and the more a man tastes and enjoys of the love of Christ the more that man will grieve and mourn for all the dishonours that he has done to Christ The more an ingenious child sees and tastes and enjoys of his fathers love the more he grieves and mourns that ever he should offend such a father or provoke such a father who has been so loving and indulgent towards him Injuries done to a friend cut deep and the more near and dear and beloved a man's friend is to him the more a man is afflicted and troubled for any wrongs or injuries that are done to him and just so 't is between God and a gracious soul The free love and favour of God and his unspeakable goodness and mercy manifested in Jesus Christ to poor sinners is the very spring and fountain of all Evangelical sorrow nothing breaks the heart of a poor sinner like the sight of God's free love in a Redeemer A man can't seriously look upon the firstness the freeness the greatness the unchangeableness the everlastingness and the matchlessness of God's free favour and love in Christ with a hard heart or with dry eyes Ezek. 36.31 compared with vers 25 26. O! who is there that has but one spark of ingenuity that can read over that heart-breaking Scripture with dry eyes Isa 43.22 23 24. See Isa 57.17 18 19. But thou hast not called upon me O Jacob but thou hast been weary of me O Israel thou hast not brought me the small cattel of thy burnt offerings neither hast thou honoured me with thy sacrifices I have not caused thee to serve with an offering nor wearied thee with incense thou hast bought me no sweet cane with money neither hast thou filled me with the fat of thy sacrifices but thou hast made me to serve with thy sins thou hast wearied me with thine iniquities Now a man would think after all this horrid abuse put upon God this would certainly follow Therefore I will plague and punish thee therefore my wrath shall smoak against thee therefore my soul shall abhor thee therefore I will shut up my loving kindness in displeasure against thee therefore I will shew no more mercy towards thee therefore I will hide my face for ever from thee therefore I will take vengeance on thee therefore I will rain hell out of heaven upon thee c. O! but read and wonder read and admire read and stand amazed and astonished read and refrain from tears if thou canst ver 25. I even I am he that blotteth out thy transgressions for mine own sake and will not remember thy sins The Prophets expression in that Zech. 12.10 is very observable They shall look upon him whom they have pierced and they shall mourn for him as one that mourneth for his only son Now 't is observable in a fathers mourning for an only son there is nothing but pure love sincere love hearty love but in a sons mourning for his father there may be and often is a great deal of self-love self-respect because the child may run and read in his father's death his own loss his own ruin his own undoing but in the father's mourning for an only son a man may run and read the integrity purity and ingenuity of the father's love and 't is only such a love as this as sets the soul a mourning and a lamenting over a crucified Christ The thoughts and fears of wrath of hell and of
but with Benhadad to recover of one disease and die of another it is but to take pains to go to hell If a Ship spring three leaks and only two be stopped the third will sink the Ship or if a man have two grievous wounds in his body and take order only to cure one that which is neglected will certainly kill him 'T is so here if a man that has divers lusts fighting against the life of his precious soul shall only mortifie and slay some of them the rest will certainly destroy him and all his pains in subduing some of them will be lost I have read of a devout man who had amongst many other vertues the gift of healing unto whom divers made resort for cure among the rest one Chromatius being sick sent for him being come he told him of his sickness and desired that he might have the benefit of cure as others had before him I cannot do it said the devout person till thou hast beaten all the Idols and Images in thy house to pieces O that shall be done said Chromatius here take my keys and where you find any Images let them be defaced which was done accordingly to prayer went the holy man but no cure was wrought O saith Chromatius I am as sick as ever O I am very weak and sick It cannot be otherwise replyed the holy man nor can I help it for certainly there is one Idol more in your house undiscovered and that must be defaced too True sayes Chromatius there is so indeed there is one all of beaten gold it cost 200 l. I would fain have saved it but here take my keys again you shall find it locked up fast in my chest take it and break it in pieces which done the holy man prayed and Chromatius was healed The moral of this story is this We are all spiritually sick full of wounds and putrified sores Christ our spiritual Physician tells us that if we will be cured we must break off our sins by repentance Now this we are willing to do in part but not in whole we would fain keep one Dalilah one darling beloved sin but it must not be there must not be one sin unrepented of we must repent as well for our Achans as our Absaloms our Rimmons as our Mammons our Davids as our Goliahs our covert as well as our open sins our loved as well as our loathed lusts our heart abominations as well as our gross transgressions our Babe iniquities as well as our Giant-like provocations our repentance must be universal or 't will be to no purpose Herod turned from many evils but would not turn from his Herodias Mark 6.18 19 20 and that was his ruin Judas his life was as fair and as free from spots and blots as the lives of any of the Apostles no scandalous sin was to be found upon him only that golden Devil covetousness was his sin and his everlasting ruin his Apostleship Preaching working of Miracles hearing of Christ and conversing with him c. was to no purpose because of that Serpent he kept in his bosom which at last stung him to death If a man lives in the practise of any known sin the union between sin and his soul is not dissolved and if that union be not dissolved Christ and his soul was never united and therefore such a person can never be saved Saul spared Agag and the Witch of Endor whom he should have destroyed and so lost his Crown his Kingdom and his Soul which was saddest of all Gideon had seventy sons Judg. 8.13 and but one bastard and yet that one bastard destroyed all the rest The Jewish Rabbins report that the same night that Israel departed out of Egypt towards Canaan all the Idols and idolatrous Temples in Egypt by lightning and earthquakes were broken down So when a man truly repents all the Idols that were set up in his soul are cast down But Secondly God has so connexed the duties of his Law one to another that if there be not a conscientious care to walk according to all that the Law requires a man becomes a transgressor of the whole Law according to that of Saint James Chap. 2.10 Whosoever shall keep the whole Law He who prevaricates with God as to any one particular commandement of his his heart is naught stark naught and he is guilty of all he hath no real regard to any of the commandements of God that hath not a regard to all the commandements of God c. and yet offend in one point is guilty of all the bond of all is broken the authority of all is slighted and that evil disposition that sinful frame of heart that works a man to venture upon the breach of one command would make him venture upon the breach of any command were it not for some infirmity of nature or because his purse will not hold out to maintain it or for shame or loss or because of the eye of friends or the sword of the Magistrate or for some sinister respects and might the breach of any other of the commands of God serve his turn and advance his ends he stands as strongly prest in spirit to transgress them all as to transgress any one of them He that gives himself liberty to live in the breach of any one command of God is qualified with a disposition of heart to break them all every single sin contains virtually all sin in it He that allows himself a liberty to live in the breach of any one particular Law of God he casts contempt and scorn upon the authority that made the whole Law and upon this account breaks it all And the Apostle gives the reason of it in Verse 11. For he that said do not commit adultery said also do not kill now if thou commit no adultery yet if thou kill thou art become a transgressor of the Law Not that he is guilty of all distributively but collectively for the Law is copulative there is a chain of duties and these are all so linked one to another that you cannot break one link of the chain but you break the whole chain All the precepts of the Law are as it were a string of pearls strung by the authority of God now break this string in any place and all the pearls fall to the ground No man can live in the breach of any known command of God but he wrongs every command of God and this at last he shall find to his cost without sound repentance on his side and pardoning grace on God's But Thirdly One sin never goes alone Cain's anger is seconded with murder Gen. 4.6 8. Ahab's covetousness is attended with bloudy cruelty and Jeroboam's rebellion with idolatry and Judas his thievery with treason I might give instances of this in Adam and Eve and in Lot Abraham Noah Jacob Joseph 1 King 12. Job David Solâ—mon and Peter c. but a touch on this string is enough one
turning from sin shall find no more sweetness in that grand promise of pardon Prov. 28.13 than devils or damned spirits do Look as one sin unforgiven will as certainly undo and damn a man as a thousand so one sin unforsaken will as certainly undo and damn a man as a thousand The true penitent is as willing to turn from all his sins as he is willing that God should pardon all his sins But Eighthly and lastly There is in every penitent a sincere hatred of sin a universal hatred of sin Psal 97.10 Ye that love the Lord hate evil Prov. 8.13 The fear of the Lord is to hate evil True hatred is to the whole kind Arist Amos 5.15 Hate the evil and love the good Psal 119.104 Through thy precepts I get understanding therefore I hate every false way Ver. 128. Therefore I esteem all thy precepts concerning all things to be right and I hate every false way Ver. 113. I hate vain thoughts but thy Law do I love Ver. 163. I hate and abhor lying but thy Law do I love True hatred is universal 't is of the whole kind he who hates a toad because it is a toad hates every toad he that hates a serpent because it is a serpent hates every serpent he that hates a wolf because 't is a wolf hates every wolf he that hates a man because he is holy hates every man that is holy and so he that hates sin because it is sin hates every sin and therefore he can't but turn from it and labour to be the death and ruin of it Holy hatred is an implacable and an irreconcilable affection you shall as soon reconcile God and Satan together Christ and Antichrist together heaven and hell together as you shall be able to reconcile a penitent soul and his sin together A true penitent looks upon every sin as contrary to the Law of God the nature of God the being of God the glory of God and accordingly his heart rises against it he looks upon every sin as poyson as the vomit of a dog as the mire of the street as the * Pliny saith that the very trees with touching of it would become barren menstrous cloth which of all things in the Law was most unclean defiling and polluting and this turns his heart against every sin he looks upon every sin as having a hand in apprehending betraying binding scourging condemning and murdering of his Lord and Master Jesus Christ and this works him not only to refrain from sin but to forsake it and not only to forsake it but also to abhor it and to loath it more than hell it self The penitent soul will do all he can to be the death of every sin that has had a hand in the death of his Lord and Master he looks upon the sins of his body to be the tormentors of Christ's body and the sins of his soul to be the tormentors of Christ's soul to be those that made his soul heavy to the death and that caused the withdrawings of his father's love from him and that forced him in the anguish of his soul to cry out Mat. 27.46 My God my God why hast thou forsaken me And this raises up in him a universal hatred of sin and a universal hatred of sin alwayes issues in a universal turning from sin Now these eight arguments do sufficiently prove that a true penitential turning is a universal turning a turning not from some sins but from all sins But some may be ready to object Object and say Sir this is a hard saying who can hear it who can bear it John 6.60 who shall then be saved for if a man repents not unless he turns from every sin then there is not a man to be found in all the world that repents for there is not a man in all the world that turns from every sin that forsakes every sin c. 1 King 8.46 For there is no man that sinneth not Prov. 20.9 Who can say Job 9.30 31. Psal 130.3 2 Chron. 6.36 Job 14.4 Psal 51.5 Ponder upon these Scriptures c. I have made my heart clean I am pure from my sin It is a question that implyes a strong denial Who can say it and say it truly that he is pure from his sin surely none He that shall say that he has made his heart clean and that he is pure from his sin sins in so saying and commonly there are none more unclean than those that say they have made their hearts clean nor none more impure than they that say they are pure from their sin Eccl. 7.20 For there is not a just man upon the earth that doth good and sinneth not These words in their absolute sense are a full testimony of the imperfection of our inherent righteousness in this life and that even justified persons come very short of that exact and perfect obedience which the Law requireth James 3.2 For in many things we offend all or as the Greek has it we stumble all 'T is a metaphor taken from Travellers walking on stony or slippery ground who are very apt to stumble or slide This Apostle was worthily called James the just and yet he numbers himself among the rest of the sanctified ones that in many things offended all The Apostle does not say in many things they offend all but in many things we offend all We that have more gifts than others we that have more grace than others we that have more assurance than others we that have more experiences than others we that have more preservatives to keep us from sin than others even we in many things offend all nor the Apostle doth not say in some things we offend all but in many things we offend all the Apostle speaking not of the singular individual acts of sin but of the divers sorts of sin nor the Apostle does not say in many things we may offend all but in many things we do offend all 1 John 1.8 If we say that we have no sin we deceive our selves and the truth is not in us The Apostle does not say if thou sayest thou hast no sin thou deceivest thy self as if he spake to some particular person only but if we say we have no sin we deceive our selves nor the Apostle does not say if ye say ye have no sin ye deceive your selves as if he intended weak or ordinary Christians alone but if we say we have no sin we deceive our selves we Apostles we that in all grace and in all holiness and in all spiritual enjoyments exceed and excel all others even we sin as well as others He that is so ignorant and so impudent so saucy and so silly as to say he has no sin sins in saying so and has no sincerity no integrity nor no ingenuity in him Ver. 10. If we say we have not sinned we make him a lyar and his word is not in us As much as in us lyes we make
shall be dealt with Mat. 24.5 But Secondly No hypocrite under heaven is totally divorced from the love and liking of every known sin there is still some secret lust or other Job 20.12 13 14 which as a sweet morsel he rowls under his tongue and will not spit it out every Hypocrite tollerates some evil or other in himself and takes liberty to transgress An Hypocrite will make hard shift to daub up his conscience and to secure himself from the checks thereof After once the bag was committed to Judas his custody after once he was chosen into that sweet office he quickly put conscience out of office It was a strange conceit of the Cerinthians and those Caini or Cainiani as they are called by some that honoured Judas the Traitor as some divine and super-humane power and called his treason a blessed piece of service that he knowing how much the death of Christ would profit mankind did therefore betray him to death to save the race of men and to do a thing pleasing to God Irenaeus Aug. de haeresi and never left stealing and licking his fingers whilst there was any money in his bag to finger Herod knew much and heard John Baptist and had some temporary affections and did many good things Mark 6.20 But yet 1. He kept Herodias his brother's wife Mark 6.17 2. He took away the life of John the Baptist Mark 6.27 3. He sets Jesus Christ at naught and rejected him Luke 23.11 As fair as Herod seemed to carry it yet he lived in a known notorious sin and unjustly murdered the messenger of God and mocked and rejected Jesus Christ as a vile person Some sin or other alwayes reigns without controul in an hypocritical heart As they say of Witches that they have one familiar or another that still sucks them An Hypocrite alwayes reserves one nest-egg or another in his heart or life for Satan to sit and brood on Jehu did many brave things but yet he kept up the worship of his golden calves Naaman promises high but yet he is for bowing in the house of Rimmon The Pharisees were very devout but yet they loved the praises of men and the uppermost seats in the Synagogues There is never an hypocrite in the world but will do what he can to save the life of his sin though it be with the loss of his soul O Sirs Satan can be contented that Hypocrites should yield to God in many things provided they will be but true to him in some one thing for he very well knows that one sin lived in and allowed gives him as much advantage against the soul as more Satan can hold a man fast enough by one sin as the Fowler can hold the bird fast enough by one claw Satan knows that one sin lived in and allowed will marr all a mans sweetest duties and services as one dead fly will marr the whole box of precious ointment and as one jarring string will bring the sweetest musick out of tune 'T is said of Naaman the Syrian Eccl. 10.1 that he was a valiant man and a victorious man and an honourable man 2 King 5.1 and a great favourite with his Prince but a Leper So it may be said of many Hypocrites they have such and such excellencies and they perform such and such glorious duties but they live and allow themselves in this or that sin Mat. 7.21 22 23. and that marrs the beauty of all their services Satan knows that one sin lived in and allowed will as certainly damn a man as many as one disease one ulcerous part may as certainly kill a man as many Satan knows that one sin lived in and allowed Lev. 31. will render a man as unclean in the eye of God as many If the Leper in the Law had the spot of leprosie in any one part of his body he was accounted a Leper although all the rest of his body were sound and whole So he who hath the spot of the leprosie of sin allowed in any one part of his soul he is a spiritual Leper in the eye of God he is unclean though in other parts he may not be unclean The Schoolmen say that if a sow do but wallow in one miry or dirty hole she is filthy and certainly that soul that doth but wallow in any one sin he is filthy in the eye of God Satan knows Heb. 13.4 It is most true that the Heathen man saith Qui habet unium vitium shabet omnia he that hath any one vice viz. reigning hath all others with it Seneca de benef l. 5. c. 15. that one sin lived in and allowed will as effectually keep Christ and the soul asunder as many as one stone in the pipe will as effectually keep out the water as many Satan knows that one sin lived in and allowed will make way for many as one thief can open the door to let in many more Satan knows that one sin lived in and allowed will as certainly shut the soul out of heaven as many one enemy may shut the door upon a man as well as many and what difference is there between that man that is shut out of heaven for living in many sins and he that is shut out of heaven for lâ—ving but in one sin One sin lived in and allowed will arm conscience against a man as well as many If there be but one crack in the honey glass there the wasp will be buzzing One sin allowed and countenanced will spoyl the musick of conscience one sin lived in and allowed will make death as terrible and as formidable to the soul as many one hand-writing upon the wall made King Nebuchadnezzar's countenance to change Dan. 5.5 6. and his thoughts to be troubled and the joynts of his loyns to be loosed and his knees to be dashed one against another Now all this Satan knows and therefore he labours mightily to engage Hypocrites to live in the allowance of some one sin O Sirs remember that as one hole in a Ship will sink it and as one stab at the heart will kill a man and as one glass of poyson will poyson a man and as one act of Treason will make a man a Traitor so one sin lived in and allowed will damn a man for ever one wound strikes Goliah dead as well as three and twenty did Caesar one Dalilah will do Sampson as much mischief Suetonius as all the Philistines one wheel broken spoyls all the whole clock one vein's bleeding will let out all the vitals as well as more one bitter herb will spoyl all the pottage Gen. 3. 1 Sam. 14.33 Josh 7. Jonah 1. by eating one apple Adam lost Paradise one lick of honey endangered Jonathan's life one Achan was a trouble to all Israel one Jonah was lading too heavy for a whole Ship So one sin lived in and allowed is enough to make a man miserable for ever One milstone will sink a man
say I hate every false way but a sincere Christian he hates all sinful wayes but his own first and most 1 Kings 5.18 an upright heart leaves no nest-egg for Satan to sit on but the hypocrite alwayes does Mark in true hatred there are six things observable First True hatred includes an extream detestation every dislike is not hatred but true hatred is an extream loathing Thou shalt cast them away as a menstrous cloth Isa 30.22 thou shalt say unto it Get thee hence Chap. 2.20 In that day a man shall cast his idols of silver and his idols of gold which they made each one for himself to worship to the Moles and to the Bats Their detestation should be so great that they should cast their most costly idols of silver and gold into the most dark nasty dusty corners to testifie the sincerity of their conversion to God they should hate and abhor abandon and abolish their gold and silver idols which they valued above all others Secondly True hatred includes an earnest separation He that hates his sin would fain be separated from his sin 2 Cor. 5.4 For we that are in this tabernacle do groan being burdened A sincere Christian finds no burden to lay so heavy and weighty upon his spirit as sin and therefore he groans to be delivered from it In the Law Deut. 24.3 he that hated his Wife did sue out a bill of divorce from her He that truly hates sin puts in many a bill into the Court of Heaven that he may be for ever divorced from his sin Thirdly True hatred includes an irreconcilable alienation He that hates sin has his heart for ever alienated from sin he who hates sin can never be one with sin Two angry men may be made friends Lawyers often fall out at the Bar but are very well agreed when they meet at the Tavern but if two men hate each other all friendship is everlastingly broken betwixt them A man may be angry with sin and yet made friends with sin again but if once he comes to hate his sin then all friendship with sin is everlastingly broken When Christ and the soul comes to be really one then sin and the soul comes to be everlastingly two c. Fourthly True hatred includes a constant and perpetual conflict the flesh will be still lusting against the spirit and the spirit against the flesh Gal. 5.17 Rom. 7.22 23. Though sin and grace were not born together and though sin and grace shall never die together yet whilst a believer lives in this world they must live together and whilst sin and grace do cohabit together they will still be opposing and conflicting one with another That man that truly hates sin will everlastingly conflict with sin he will die fighting against his sins as one of the Dukes of Venice died fighting against his enemies with his weapons in his hand Well Christians remember this Though to be kept from sin brings most peace and comfort to us yet for us to oppose sin and for God to pardon sin that brings most glory to God 2 Cor. 12.7 8 9. Fifthly True hatred includes a deadly intention and destruction for nothing satisfies hatred but death and ruin Saul hated David 1 Sam. 26.19 20. 1 Sam. 23.23 Est 5.14 and sought his life he hunted him up and down as a Partridge in the mountains he left no stone unturn'd nor no means unattempted whereby he might revenge himself upon David Haman hated Mordecai and nothing would satisfie him but to bring him to a shameful death to see him hang'd on a gallows fifty cubits high which was design'd saith Lyra to put Mordecai to the greater shame for he hanging hâ—gh every one might see him and point to him Now when there was but one night betwixt Mordecai and a shameful death divine providence opportunely strook in and saved hâ—m from Haman's malice and caused the mischief which he had plotted against Mordecai suddenly to fall upon his own pate for he who was highly feasted with the King one day 2 Sam. 13.22 28 29 30 31 32 33. was made a feast for crows the next day Absalom hated Amnon and killed him Julian the Apostate hated the Christians with a deadly hatred he put many thousands of them to death and threatned and vowed that at his return from fighting against the Persians he would put all the Christians in his Empire to the sword but God prevented him by cutting him off in that expedition A Christian that hates sin can't be satisfied but in the death and destruction of it in all his duties the language of his soul is Lord let my sins be destroyed whoever escapes let not my sins escape the hand of thy revenging justice And in all Ordinances the language of his soul is O Lord when shall my sins be subdued and mortified when shall my cursed corruptions be brought to an under yea when shall they all be drowned in the Red-Sea of my Saviours bloud c. Sixthly True hatred includes an impartial aversation true hatred is of the whole kind but of this before To wind up all ask thy heart what is it that thou abhorrest as the superlative evil what is that which thou wouldst have separated as far from thee as heaven is from hell what is that thy heart will never renew league or friendship with any more what is that against which thy soul doth rise and with which as Israel with Amalek thou wilt have war for ever Exod. 17.16 what is that which thou wilt be avenged of and daily dost endeavour the mortifying and crucifying of what is that which thou settest thy heart against in the comprehensive latitude thereof whether great or little open or secret if it be sin if it be thy sins if it be all thy sins then assuredly here is a true hatred of sin and assuredly here is a most distinguishing character of a child of God of a sound conversion and of a saving change It was not wont to be thus with thee nor is this findable in any hypocrite Judg. 14.3 7. or in any unconverted person upon the face of the earth 2 Sam. 13.15 sin was once to thee as Dalilah to Sampson but now it is to thee as Tamar to Amnon Job 20.12 13. once it was a sweet morsel which thou heldst fast and wouldst not let it go Isa 30.22 but now it is the menstruous cloth which thou castest away Hos 14.8 saying Get thee hence Now with Ephraim thou cryest out What have I to do any more with Idols O if it be indeed thus with thee then thou hast cause for ever to be much in blessing and in admiring of the Lord for his distinguishing grace and favour towards thee O Sirs the world is full of baits snares and temptations but whilst the hatred of sin burns in your breasts you may cast up your caps and throw the Gantlet to the
heart Ver. 23. Nevertheless I am continually with thee thou hast holden me by my right hand Ver. 24. Thou shalt guide me with thy counsel and afterward receive me to glory Ver. 25. Whom have I in heaven but thee and there is none upon earth that I desire besides thee Ver. 26. God is the strength or rock of my heart and my portion for ever Ver. 28. It is good for me to draw near to God So the Church in that Micah 7. When God had hid his face from her Ver. 7. When she sate in darkness Ver. 8. When she was under the indignation of the Lord. Ver. 9. When the righteous man was perished and there was none upright among men Ver. 2. And when her enemies rejoyced insulted and triumphed over her Ver. 8. ver 10. Yet now even now she keeps up in her soul very high precious and honourable thoughts of the Lord. Ver. 7. My God will hear me Ver. 8. When I fall I shall arise when I sit in darkness the Lord shall be a light unto me Ver. 9. He will bring me forth to the light and I shall behold his righteousness I might give you twenty more instances but enough is as good as a feast Dear Christians when your graces are not transparent when your evidences for heaven are blotted and when the face of God is clouded O then keep up in your hearts high precious and honourable thoughts of God and Christ and of his Word and wayes Acts 27.20 c. When your Sun of righteousness is set in a cloud when great darkness is upon your spirits when all Moon-light and Star-light of your graces and gracious evidences fails you Psal 22.3 yet then say with David Thou art holy O thou that inhabitest the praises of Israel and with Ezra Thou hast punished me less than mine iniquities deserve Ezra 9.13 Neh. 9.33 and with Nehemiah Howbeit thou art just in all that is brought upon us for thou hast done right but we have done wickedly and with the Church The Lord is righteous Lam. 1.18 In the darkest night and under your deepest soul-distresses say Well if I perish if I should miscarry for ever yet I will maintain and keep up in my heart high and precious and honourable thoughts of God and Christ Say well though my graces are obscured and my evidences for heaven are blurred and soyled yet I shall to my last breath say the Lord is good and his Word is good and his wayes are good yea though he should slay me yet I will trust in him Job 13.15 and entertain noble and glorious thoughts of him This is the way of wayes to have your graces cleared and strengthned your evidences brightned your comforts restored and your assurance confirmed But The twelfth Proposition is this viz. That it is the great duty and concernment of Christians to keep the evidences of their gracious and happy condition alwayes bright and shining Christians should make conscience of blurring and disfiguring the golden characters of grace in their souls The least character of grace in the soul is more worth than all the gold of Ophir yea more worth than ten thousand thousand worlds Eph. 4.30 Psal 51.11 12 and therefore every gracious Christian should be marvellous careful that he does not by wilful omissions or sinful commissions cloud dim or darken the least character of grace such as blot or lose their evidences for heaven they lose the comfort of their lives in this world Satans master-piece is first to work Christians to blot and blur their evidences for glory by committing this or that hainous sin and then his next work is to rob them of their evidences for glory that so though at the long run they may get safe to heaven that yet Jacob like they may go halting and mourning to their graves Satan knows that whilst a Christians evidences are bright and shining a Christian is temptation-proof Satan may tempt him but he can't conquer him he may assault him but he can't vanquish him Satan knows that whilst a Christians evidences for heaven are bright and shining no afflictions can sink him nor no opposition shake him nor no persecution discourage him nor no outward wants perplex him and therefore he will use all his power and policy all his arts crafts and parts to draw poor Christians to blot and blur their evidences for glory Satan knows that a man may lose one friend and easily get another lose his Trade in one place and soon get a Trade in another place lose health and get it lose an estate and get an estate c. But if he loses his evidences for heaven he knows it will cost him many a prayer and many a sigh and many a groan and many a tear and many a sad complaint before he recovers his lost evidences and therefore his grand design is to plunder a Christian of his evidences for heaven O Sirs keep but your evidences for heaven alwayes bright and shining and then heavy afflictions will be light and long afflictions will be short 2 Cor. 4.16 17 18. and bitter afflictions will be sweet and then every evidence fainly written in your hearts will be a living comfort to you in a dying hour When the tokens of death are upon your bodies and you shall see the lively characters of grace shining in your souls Luke 2.29 you will then cry out with old Simeon Lord now let thy servant depart in peace and with the Spouse Make hast my beloved Cant. 8. ult and be like to a Roe or to a young Hart upon the mountains of spices Rev. 22.20 Phil. 1.23 and with the Bride Come Lord Jesus come quickly and with Paul I desire to be dissolved and to be with Christ When a man's evidences for heaven are either lost or blotted and blur'd then he will be ready to cry out wiâ—h David O spare me yet a little that I may recover strength before I go hence and be seen no more Isa 38.3 and with Hezekiah to turn his face to the wall and weep There are four things that above all others a Christian should labour to keep 1. Christ 2. His own heart 3. The Word 4. His evidences for heaven bright and shining But The thirteenth Proposition is this viz. It is the high concernment of every Christian either when he is in the dark or when his graces shine brightest and when his evidences for heaven are clearest and his springs of comfort rise highest then to have his heart and the eye of his faith most firmly fixt upon these three royal Forts or these five Cities or refuge It must be granted that though our graces are our best jewels yet they are imperfect and do not give out their full lustre they are like the Moon which when it shines brightest hath her dark spots and therefore a Christian had need have his eye his heart fixt upon the five following royal Forts