is one that eats the word now as meat eaten becomes one with the body and takes the same form with it the body and meat are so much the same that they are one and you cannot know them asunder So the Word is well heard when it becomes one with the Christian when they are both of the same form the hearer is delivered up into the likeness and form of the Scripture the Word of God may be read in every leaf in every line of the volume of his life Our blessed Saviour describing good hearers tells us they are such as bring forth fruit some thirty some sixty some an hundred fold Mat. 13.23 And elsewhere he compares the obedient hearer to the man who built his house upon a Rock which stood firm and immoveable in the midst of all winds waves and weather and the man that heareth and doth not practice to him who built upon the sands which house quickly fell when the winds blew and the waves beat Mat. 7. latter end His meaning and intention Reader was to quicken thee and me to minde subjection to the Word without which we must perish Suppose thou art never so great an hearer yet if not a doer thou deceivest thine own soul Alas what will become of the frequent hearer when the non or negligent doer shall be thrown to hell I have read a story of two men who walking together found a young Tree laden with fruit they both gathered and satisfied themselves at present One of them took all the remaining fruit and carried it away with him the other took the tree and planted it in his own ground where it prospered and brought forth fruit every year so that though the former had more at present yet this had some when he had none They who hear the Word and have large memories and nothing else may carry away most of the Word at present yet he that possibly can remember little who carrieth away the tree plants the Word in his heart and obeys it in his life shall have fruit when the other hath none The practical memory is the greatest mercy It is reported of a good man that coming from a Lecture and being demanded Whether all were done he should fetch a deep sigh and say All is said but all is not done Reader when thou hast heard the word consider though the Sermon be at an end yet there must not be an end of the Sermon Practice which is the heart of hearing is still behinde Observe the properties of those persons to whom and their posterity God will be propitious The mercy of the Lord is from everlasting and his righteousness to childrens children To such as keep his Covenants and remember his Commandments to do them Psal 103.17 18. They are described by their act they lay the word up they remember his Commandments and by their end to lay the word out in their lives to do them A good husband having received a bag of money locketh it up safe that none may rob him of it and as occasion is fetcheth it down and layeth it out some for food some for cloathes some for rent some for servants wages some for this some for that as his necessities require So Friend do thou lay up the precious Treasure of the word safe in the Cabinet of thine heart and bring it out as thy occasions call for it in thy life Art thou in adversity fetch out the Promises for thy comfort broach that strong liquor which was purposely tunned up for thee against a groaning hour This is my comfort in mine affliction for thy word hath quickned me Psal 119.15 Art thou in prosperity bring forth the precepts for thy carriage Look to that Card and Compass by which thou mayest sail eavenly and trim notwithstanding those high winds and swelling waters Thy Word is a light to my feet and a lamp to my paths Psal 119.4 Wouldst thou resist and conquer Satans Temptations The word is a Shield which as they say of Vulcans Armour is full proof against all thrusts and darts By the words of thy mouth I have kept my self from the pathes of the destroyer Psal 17.4 Nay fetch but this Sword of the Spirit out of Gods Armory and the Devil will run like a Coward he is more afraid of it then Leviathan his name-sake is of the Sword-fish which some write he dreadeth more then all the fish in the Ocean Thy Saviour gave Satan such a wound with the Sword of the word that he feeleth it to this day If thou wouldst overcome the worlds insinuations dâ— but feed on the word and thou wilt scorn thâ— scraps of the world As the Greeks in their sailing to fetch the Golden Fleece when the Syrens endeavoured to inchant them with their Songs found help against those assaults by hearkning to Orpheus pipe So when that Harlot the World striveth to bewitch thee with her pleasant voyce and poysonous breath thereby to hinder thy pursuit of the Golden Crown of Righteousness do but hearken to those Spiritual Songs that ravishing Musick those high and noble delights which are in the Gospel and thou wilt finde assured help That thy corruptions within thee may be subdued let still the Word of God be consulted Thou mayest finde in it such a bit and curb as will bridle thy youthful most headstrong lusts By what means may a young man cleanse his way by taking heed thereto according to thy Word Psalm 119.11 If thine evil humors be never so many and filthy yet the Word like the Catholicon Drug is instead of all purges That thy Relation duties may be performed the holy Scriptures must be fetcht out and minded Whether thou art an Husband or Wife or Parent or Child or Master or Servant to defray the charge of all those duties thou mayest take enough out of the Word of God It is a well drawn Picture that looks on all that look on it and it guides thee by its eye how to order and govern thy feet on what ground soever thou standest whether on the higher ground of a Superior the plain even ground of an equal or the lower ground of an Inferior He that layeth up the word for these purposes and bringeth it out in these practices is the right profitable hearer for he Remembreth the Commandments of God to do them Some hear and jear they go to a Sermon as to a Stage-play to laugh and be merry Others hear and fret and fume as those that live under the Torrid Zone curse the very Sun Others hear and forget what would do them most good their memories are true to the flesh but treacherous to the spirit they are like Vessels made of Ivy which some say if wine and water be poured into them will leak out the wine and keep in the water Others hear and admire but Reader if thou wouldst not have the word to witness against thee when thou shalt be judged by it for thine everlasting life or death
puddle water Reflect on them thy self and compare them with the Law of God and thou wilt find cause to pray over thy prayers to weep over thy tears to be ashamed of thy shame and to abhor thy self for thy self abhorrency Do not think with thy self I have examined my heart faithfully and find that I do not come short of the grace of God I have acknowledged mine iniquities and been sorrowful for my sins and therefore I cannot miscarry at this Sacrament Such a trusting of thy self would be a tempting of thy Saviour and would certainly hinder the success of the Sacrament It would be to thee as the cutting off Sampsons locks was to him Judg 16.20 He thought to have gone forth as at other times and shake himself And he wist not that the Lord was departed from him Thou mayest think after such self-confidence to go to the Lords Supper as at other times but alas what wilt thou do for the Lord will depart from thee and then what sport will Satan and sin those uncircumcised ones make with thee Reader let me perswade thee when thou hast been diligent in the trial of thy spiritual estate and hast with many tears bewailed the pollution of thy nature and transgressions of thy life to cast thy self wholly upon Jesus Christ for assistance in the duty As Jehosaphat when he had 50000. men ready Armed for the battel cryed out O Lord our God we have no might against this great company 2 Chron. 20.6 neither know we what to do but our eyes are unto thee So after thou hast made the greatest preparation possible as beleiving the weight and worth of the supper the purity and Majesty of the Master of the Feast do thou look up to Christ and say Lord I have no ability no might for this great supper for a right performance of this great ordinance neither know I what to do but my eys are unto thee When Asa had an Army of two hundredand fourscore thousand men of valour to fight with the Ethiophians he prayeth and trusteth to God as if he had not one man Lord it is nothing for thee to help whether with many or with them that have no power Help us O Lord God for we rest on thee 2 Chron. 8 1. and in thy name we go against this great multitude So do thou say Lord I have no power for this holy Supper help me O Lord my God for I rest on thee and in thy name I go to this great and weighty Ordinance Truely couldst thou after all the provision thou hast made disclaim it wholly in regard of dependance and cast thy self on Christ for assistance I durst be the Prophet to foretel a good day The gaudy flower which standeth upon its own stalk doth quickly wither when the plain Ivy that depends upon the house and leans on it is fresh and green all the year He that trusteth to his own legs in this duty is as sure to fall as if he were down already the weak child walketh safest that all the way holdeth by and hangeth upon its parent If thou wert now going to receive be advised to write after Davids Copy He looked up to God both for assistance and acceptance I will go in the strength of the Lord I will make mention of thy righteousness yea of thine onely Psa 71.16 Let thy practice be sutable to his when thou goest out of thy house And let thy prayer be the same with the Spouses when thou art entring into Gods house O then look up to heaven and cry mightily Awake thou Northwind and come O South blow upon my Garden that the Spices thereof may flow out Let my beloved come into his Garden and eat his pleasant fruits Cant. 4. ult CHAP. XIX How a Christian may exercise himself to godliness at the Table I Come to the second particular about the Lords Supper Secondly and that is thy behaviour at the Table or in the time of receiving In reference to which I would advise thee 1. To mind the sutable subjects which are to be considered at it 2. To observe the special graces which are to be exercised in it There are three principal subjects of meditation when thou approachest the Table in order to the three graces which must then be acted The Subjects of meditation are Christs passion his affection and thy own corruptions The three graces are Faith Love and godly sorrow Christs death is sure footing for Faith Paul never desired better 1 Cor. 2.2 it is not onely an elect and precious but a tried stone and a sure foundation on which whosoever beleiveth shall never be confounded Isa 28.16 Faith picks excellent food from this heavenly carkass The love of Christ displayed in his death causeth and calleth forth the love of a Christian Faith bringeth the soul that is like a dead coal near to the live coals of Gods burning love in giving his onely Son and Christs burning love in giving himself and by these it is turned into fire all in a flame of love as the Eccho answereth the voice it returneth the love it receiveth Our own sins meditated on stit up the third grace which is godly sorrow Though indeed this liquor will run from any of the three Vessels if they be but peirced When Christ hung upon the Cross under the weight of Gods wrath water came out of his sides as well as blood Who can think of his sufferings without sorrow and of his blood without tears His love in its heat may well thaw the most frozen spirit but sin the cause of his sufferings will like a knife cut and prick to the heart indeed but First I begin with the subjects of meditation and among them in the first place with the passion of Christ First Meditate now on the suffering of thy Saviour the wound of Christ out of which came precious balsom to heal all thy sinful sores ought never to be forgotten but the remembrance of them is never so seasonable as at a Sacrament One end of the institution of this Ordinance was the commemoration of Christs death As oft as ye eat this brrad and drink this cup ye shew forth the Lords death till he come 1 Cor. 11.26 27. The Sacrament is a lively crucifix wherein Jesus Christ is evidently set forth crucified before thine eyes When thou seest the bread and wine consecrated and set apart consider how God the Father did from eternity set a part his onely Son for his bloody passion and thy blessed redemption Consider he was a Lamb slain before the foundation of the World When thou seest the bread and wine upon the Table consider that as the Corn was ground in the Mill to make that bread and the grapes squezed to make that wine so thy Saviour was beaten in the Mill and Wine-press of his Fathers wrath before he could be meat indeed and drink indeed to nourish thee unto life everlasting When thou seest the bread broken
serve God with more pomp then others but I am confident they serve him to less profit then others In vain do they worship me teaching for doctrines the commandments of men Matth. 15.9 their worship is in Gods account no worship they who made Temples Altars and Ceremonies of their own heads thought that they had remembred God but he tells them plainly that they had forgotten him Hos 8.11 13 14. Men manifest abundance of arrogancy in undertaking to prescribe newer and neater ways of worship then God himself as if they excelled his Majesty in wisdom but little do they think how exceedingly by such practices they provoke him to fury Will-worship Ezek. 8.3 4 5 per tot Ezek. 43.8 In their setting of their thresholds by my thresholds and their posts by my posts they have even defiled my holy name by the abominations which they have committed wherefore I have consumed them in mine anger So Ezek. 6.9 2 Chron. 7.20 CHAP. IV. What it is for a man to make Religion his business or to exercise himself to Godliness I Proceed to the second particular promised is to shew what it is for a man to exercise himself to Godliness It implyeth these three things First To give it the precedency in all our actions that which a man maketh his business he will be sure to minde whatsoever he omits A good Husband will serve his shop before his sports and will sometimes offer an handsom warrantable kind of disrespect to his friends that his calling may have his company he will have some excuse or other to avoid diversions and force his way to his trade through all opposition and all because he makes it his business He that makes Religion his business carrieth himself towards his general as this man doth towards his particular calling In his whole life he walks with God and is so mannerly and dutiful as to give God the upper hand all the way He knoweth that his God must be worshipped that his family must be served and that his calling must be followed for Religion doth not nullifie onely rectifie his carriage towards his earthly vocation but each in their order that which is first in regard of excellency is first in regard of his industry He is not so unnatural as to serve his cattle before his children nor so Atheistical as to serve his body and the world before his soul and his Saviour He is so sensible of his infinite ingagements to the blessed God that he allotteth some time every day for his religious duties and he will be sure to pay God home to the utmost of his ability whosoever he compounds with or pays short As he saile along through the tempestuous sea of this world towards his eternal Haven of rest he hath many temporal affairs in his company but he is specially careful that they keep their distance and strike sail through the whole voyage If his worldly-businesses offer like Hagar to justle or quarrel for preheminence with their superior Religion he will if possible chide them into subjection and cause them to submit but rather cast them out then suffer them to usurp Authority over their Mistris He that minds Religion by the by will if other things intervene put it back and be glad of an excuse to wave that company to which he hath no love nay he doth in the whole course of his life prefer his Swine as the Gadarens before his soul set the Servant on Horse-back and suffer the Master to go on foot His voice to Religion is like the Jews to the poor man in vile Rayment stand thou there or fit thou here under my foot-stool and his words to the World are like theirs to the man in goodly apparel Come up hither or sit thou here in a good place James 2.2 3. He doth like Jacob lay the right hand of his care and diligence upon the youngest Son the body and the left hand upon the first born of the soul That which was Esaus curse is esteemed by him as a blessing that the Elder serves the Tounger He is so unwise as to esteem lying vanities before real mercies often so unworthy as to forget God whosoever he remembreth and so uncivil at best as to give God the Worlds leavings and to let the Almighty Creator Dance attendance till he pleaseth to be at leasure If he be in the midst of his devotion he makes an end upon the smallest occasion Plut. and is like the Patriarch who ran from the Altar when he was about his Office to see a Fole new fallen from his beloved Mare But every Saint like Solomon first builds an house for God and then for himself Whoever be displeased or whatever be neglected he will take care that God be worshipped Abrahams Steward when sent to provide a Wife for Isaak though meat were set before him refused to eat till he had done his errand Gen. 24.33 Godliness is the errand about which man is sent into the World now as faithful servants we must prefer our Message before our meat and serve our Master before our selves He that makes godliness his business gives it the first of the day and the first place all the day He gives it the first of the day Jesus Christ was at prayer a great while before day Mark 1.35 Abraham rose up early in the morning to offer Sacrifice Gen. 22.1 So did Job 1. and 5. David cryeth out O God my God early will I seek thee Psa 63.1 In the morning will I direct my prayer to thee and look up Psa 5.3 The Philistines in the morning early offered to their God Dagon The Persian Magi Worshipped the rising Sun with their early hymns The Saint in the morning waits upon Heavens Majesty As soon as he awakes he is with God one of his first works when he riseth is to ask his Heavenly Father Blessing Like the Lark he is up early singing sweetly the praise of his Maker and often with the Nightingale late up at the same pleasant tune He finds the morning a greater friend to the Graces then it can be to the Muses Naturalists tell us that the most orient pearles are generated of the Morning dew Sure I am he hath sweet communion with God in morning duties Reader Let me tell thee if Religion be thine occupation thy business God will hear from thee in the morning one of the first things after thou art up will be to fall down and worship him Thy mind will be most free in the morning and thine affections most lively as those strong waters are fullest of spirits which are first drawn and surely thou canst not think but that God who is the best and chiefest good hath most right to them and is most worthy of them As a godly man gives religion the precedency of the day so he gives it the precedency in the day The Jews some say divide their day into prayer labour and repast and they will not
of him in thy trade or travails then in his Tabernacle When thou drawest nigh to him there he will be sanctified either in thee or upon thee If thou refuse to give him glory in his service beleive it he will get himself glory by thy suffering His Worship is his face and look for his fury if thou darest him to his face The waters of the Sanctuary are like the waters given to a suspected Wife if she were innocent it witnest her honesty made her fruitful if barren and did her good but if she were guilty sweld her belly rotted her bowels and did her hurt If thou make godliness thy business in the ordinances of God thou mayst get much spiritual good thou mayst meet Christ in them receive grace through them and thrive as the babe by the breasts in health and strength but if thou like the horse in the Mill onely goest thy round in Religious duties never minding the true end of them nor thy carriage in them thy prayer will be an abomination the word a savour of death unto death and the very sacrament a seal of thy damnation It doth therefore nearly concern thee to hearken to that counsel which I shall give thee from the word to prevent thy miscarriage in the duties of Gods worship For preparation to duties I shall speak when I come to treat of sanctifying the Lords day First Be heedful and watchful over thy self when thou art about religious duties Heedless service is fruitless service What measure of care we give God in duties the same measure of comfort we may expect from duties Eccles 5.1 Keep thy feet when thou goest to the house of God and be more ready to hear then to give the Sacrifice of fools Thine heart like Dinah is apt to wander abroad especially from the way and Worship of God it behoves thee then to have a strict hand over it if thou wouldst keep it at home Observe consider thy feet so the word signifieth The feet of the Harlot abide not within her house neither will thy affections easily within the House of God doth not experience tell thee that they love to be gadding and therefore require a strong and vigilant guard Parents set their Children before them at Church and have their eyes much upon them because otherwise they will be toying and playing truly so will thy heart if thine eye be not on it Alass thy heart in duty is like one that looks through an Optick Glass on some small object with a Palsie hand its long before he can discern it and as soon as he hath found it so unsteady is his hand that he hath lost it again therefore it behoves thee to keep it diligently and to watch it narrowly There is a bottomless depth of deceit in thine heart how unwillling is it to a duty how much wandring in a duty how soon weary of a duty The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked who knoweth it Jer. 17 9â— Take notice of the center of the poison the heart is deceitful a deceitful hand is nothing so dangerous as a deceitful heart when poyson gets to the very seat of life in what danger is a â—oul of death Here is also the measure of the pollution The heart is deceitful above all things the best part is unspeakably poisoned The Prophets expression hath a three fold gradation First there is deceit in mans heart it is a word used of ways Isa 40.5 which are full of windings and â—urnings and therefore are hard to be found so is mans heart full of nooks and corners slights and craft and so doth easily supplant us it hath not onely weakness and proneness to be deceived by others but also an activeness and aptness to deceive it self Secondly there is the degree of its deceit and indeed it is beyond all degrees The heart is deceitful above all things No creature so sly and subtle as mans heart Nothing in this World can equal it for tricks and wiles Nay as this deceit of mans heart is so great that none can match it so also it is so deep that none can find it none can fadom it Who can know it The largest the longest line of mans understanding can never search to the bottom of this Sea Thirdly Here is the danger of it The heart of man is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked It is not deceitful in such a degree so much through weakness as through wilfulness it is desperately carried towards deadly courses It devotes it self wholly to deceive and destroy How many pretences will it have to make thee to omit holy performances if thou overcome them how subtle will it be to make thee heedless and heart-less in the service of God It will fill thee with cares and thoughts of the World purposely to choak the good seed of the Word if at any time thou wind it up to any seriousness in an ordinance how quickly and how swiftly like a Clock or a Jack doth it run down Surely Reader the Master that hath such a cozening Servant must look narrowly to him if he would not be cheated by him If thou dost not watch at the Altar the Birds will devour the Sacrifice Those that were before the Throne day and night were full of eyes behind and before and within Rev. 4.6 and 8. Extraordinary heed is necessary when we come into Gods House We had need to have our eys about us when we come to deal immediately with him who is of purer eys then to behold iniquity The Athenians in time of their Sacrifice had a Monitor to bid them be serious calling on them Hoc agite mind the work ye are about Plut. Cyprian observeth that in the Primitive times the Deacon oft cried out to the people Sursum corda lift up your hearts and the Pastor stird them up with Oremus attendamus Let us pray let us attend Commanding their greatest attention when they were about Religious actions Eutychus was Drowsie while he was hearing which had like to have cost him his life God will not be slighted when he is speaking to the children of men Christ commandeth thee to take heed how thou hearest Luk. 8.18 The heart is needful in hearing more then the ears We read of those that had ears and yet heard not Audientis corporis sensu non cordis assensu Aug. Isa 6.9 10. Mat. 13.13 It is one thing to hear and another thing to heed a Sermon Let him that hath an ear hear what the spirit saith to the Churches Rev. 2. When the word passeth through both ears as waters through a leaking Vessel no wonder if it be unprofitable Least it should do so let us give the more diligent heed saith the Apostle Heb. 2.1 If men be told of the dreadful end of sin and the great danger of their precious souls and they mind it not will they ever strive to prevent it Our proficiency by the Word depends not a little
upon our earnest attention to the Word Luk. 19.48 It s said there the people were very attentive to hear him They hanged on Christ as if their ears and minds had been tyed to his tongue or as eagerly as the little Bird on the Dams Bill for Corn. In prayer also be heedful watch unto prayer Mark 13.33 Nehemiah when building did work and watch watch and work because of his Enemies when thou art at prayer temptations without will be waiting corruptions within will be working and therefore its requisite for thee to be watching Those that performe their duties as Papists say their Pater nosters and Musitians play their Lessons with their Fingers when their minds are busied about other things will make but harsh and displeasing Musick in Gods ears O God saith the Psalmist thou art terrible out of thy holy places Psa 68.35 The Sanctuary or place of Worship was divided into three parts thence called thy holy places now out of them God was comfortable to his watchful and diligent Servants but terrible to the slothful and negligent He is terrible not onely in the high places of the field but also in the holy places of the faithful How canst thou expect that God should heed thy prayers when thou dost not heed them thy self Wouldst thou give Almes to a Beggar that by his carriage and language should slight both thee and thy bounty If a condemned malefactor were suing to a Prince for his life and in the midst of his intreaties should see a Moth or a Fly and leave his suit and follow after that would this wretch deserve a pardon And is it not as unreasonable that God should grant thy requests if thou wilfully follow those foolish objects which thy heart or the Devil offer to thee in the midst of thy prayers monstrous compositions wherein is the face and voice of a man the heart and feet of a beast must needs be odious to God O bind thine heart to its good behaviour when thou goest into Gods House Men put Locks and Fetters on Wild Horses whom no inclosure can keep in This watching the heart in duties will fasten and tye it as with cords to the Altar Secondly Act grace in duties the acting of grace in a duty is the grace of a duty The Christian must attend on the means of grace in a gracious manner the manner of performing duties Non tantum considerandum est id quod agimussed etiam quibus circum â—antiâ—s Caâ—et in Thom. 1 〈◊〉 quest 9. is the most spiritual part of them and therefore must most of all be minded God made a breach on them who sought him not after the due order 1 Cron. 15.13 If the matter of thy performance be according to the word and thou wilfully fail in the manner thou wilt instead of a blessing meet with a blow God had Sacrifices from the Jews of his own appointment for the matter and yet they were unsavoury to him Isa 1.13 14 15. It is the manner which makes or mars every action that is the form which specificates all our devotion grace is Gods own Image abundantly amiable in his eye and that must be Stampt on all our Coyn of duties or they will never be currant with Heaven Kings suffer no Coyn to go in their Dominions but what hath their own stamp Tamberlane would not own a pot of gold which his Souldier found and brought him because it wanted his Fathers impression Christ will own no performances unless they have his Fathers Picture somwhat of his Image on them Indeed the Christian hath no natural power for these spiritual performances but God gives him his Spirit for this purpose that he might be enabled to do sacred duties with sutable graces we know not how to pray as we ought but the spirit helpeth our infirmities 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rom. 8.26 Man is impotent but the spirit is an able assistant helpeth our infirmities The word is either an allusion to a Nurse which helps her weak little Child to go so the spirit affords his hand and helps us to go to God in duties or as the composition of the word imports it s an allusion to those who lift at a weighty peice of Timber too heavy for one alone one man tugs and puls hard but he cannot wag it till one stronger then he comes and helps him then he bears it away chearfully so the Christian be puls and hales at his own heavy heart in a duty to perform the duty aright and yet makes nothing of it till the spirit comes and helps him and then he goes along comfortably through the duty As to Preaching there is required external mission so to every prayer and performance there are required internal motions therefore we find the spirit of grace and supplication joyn'd together Zach. 12.10 Samsan when his lock was cut off became like another man the Christian when the spirit withdraweth that grace be not acted he performeth duties like a carnalman It is the bâ—eath of the Spirit of God in a duty which is so sweet and savory to God gifts may do somwhat as to the outward part of a duty as a Carver may make an Image with the external lineaments of a man but unless grace and spiritual life be in it it is but the counterfeit the resemblance of a true duty The two special graces which I shall speak of to be acted in Religious exercises are fear and faâ—th upon these two feet David walked into Gods House I will go into thine House in the multitude of thy mercies there was his faith and in thy fear will I worship towards thy holy Temple Psa 5.6 here is his fear The Christian like a Net must have both the lead of an holy Fear and the cork of a lively Faith if he would catch any thing out of the waters of the Sanctuary if the cork of Faith was without the lead of Fear the Net would lie too high if the lead of Fear were without the cork of Faith the Net of the Soul would fall too â—owâ— and so nothing would be caught but both together lay in the likest place for a good draught 1. Fear and awful apprehensions of Gods infinite Majesty is requisite in our religious actions This must he the hand-maid to wait upon the Mistris of the soul in all its addresses to the King of Heaven Serve the Lord with fear and rejoyce with trembling Psa 2.11 God alloweth an humble familiarity in the walks of Obedience yet he will always have the children of men to know their distance And though this habit of Fear must be ever in our hearts as fire was constantly on the Altar yet he expects that it should be blown up and flame out at the time of offering sacrifice â—â—od non netur coâ—â—â—m uâ— quod â—temâ—â—ur 〈◊〉 â—li ur Act. de ira c lib. 8. Our greatest reverence is then most needful when we approach the great God in
our aims Now as duties are considerable in a twofold respect so a Christian must have in them a twofold end 1. Duties are considerable as services in relation to the command and so a Christian must mind them that he may testifie his obedience to God and his dependance on him Thou hast commanded me to keep thy precepts diligently O that my ways were directed to keep thy commandments Psal 119.5 6. Warn the unruly comfort the feeble minded support the weak be patient towards all men rejoycing evermore pray without ceasing in every thing give thanks For this is the will of God concerning you 1 Thess 5.14 15 16 17 18. God required the Israelites to bring a sheaf in a Ghomer about a pottle for all their increase of the fruits of the earth Lev. 23.10 whereby they acknowledged that they receive all from him Though man be unable to satisfie Gods Justice by all his devotion yet God will be owned and acknowledged in holy duties Copy-holders though they have the profiâ—s of their Houses and Lands to themselves yet pay some small Quit-Rent and at certain times do suit and service to the Lord â—f their Manor acknowleding thereby that the Fee-simple is his and they enjoy theâ— through his favour The earth is the Lords and thâ— fulness thereof He is the mighty possessor of heaven and earth and though he gives the earth by leases for lives as it were and copies to the children of men yet the Fee-simple and original right is still in himself and he hath appointed seasons daily and weekly for duties wherein Christians should acknowledge that they hold all of him and enjoy all through his grace and good will The worshipping of God in his Ordinances is the homage which as creatures we ow to our Maker and as Christians we owe to our Redeemer God alloweth us the comfort of our mercies but he reserveth to himself the credit of our mercies and hath appointed the hours of prayer to be the set times for the payment of this small Quit-rent infinitely inferior to our engagements to his sacred Majesty Truly Reader This end must be minded in thine attendance on the means of grace namely to give God glory by acknowleding his Soveraignty over thee and bounty to thee or else when thou bendest the bow of thine heart and shootest thy spiritual arrows thou wilt never hit the mark 2. Duties are considerable as means in relation to the Promise and so they are channels cut out by Christ to convey grace into the hearts of men therefore thine end in this respect must be to derive grace from the God of all grace through the means of grace The place of Ordinances is called by some The door of Heaven because there Christ gives his alms his dole Others call it The Celestial Exchange between God and his people God doth there exchange mercies for duties and they exchange Glory for Grace At the Tabernacle saith God I will meet with the children of Israel and it shall be sanctified by my glory And I will dwell a-among the children of Israel and will be their God Exod. 29.43 45. When God comes to his house he never comes empty handed If Paul comes with the fulness of the blessings of the Gospel of Christ with what clusters of blessings is the true Vine laden with what a train of Graces and Comforts is this great King attended I will meet with the children of Israel there When Jacob met Joseph they kist and wept Gen. 46.29 But when God meets the Beleever they have a merrier meeting they kiss and rejoyce And I will dwell among them Who can imagine the house which God keeps where he dwells the dainties the delicates which he provides for his friends and Family Great Princes have great provision in their Courts answerable to their quality but what provision doth the great God make surely answerable to his infinite majesty The table in the Tabernacle was furnished with so many loaves as there were Tribes in Israel Moses unveyled c. 27. p. 10 signifying that God keeps a constant and plentiful table in his Church for all Beleevers Ordinances are canales gratiae Conduit-pipes whereby the water of life is derived from Christ into the hearts of Christians As the light and beams of the Sun is the vehiculum or chariot to convey the heat and influence of the Sun to the world so the Ordinances of God are the chariots whereby God conveyeth the heat of his Grace and the influences of his Spirit to men and women Saints behold his face in the glaâ—â— of Ordinances and are changed into his image from glory to glary 2 Cor. 3.18 Those Divine graces which are for meat to satisfie and for medicine to heal the soul are found growing onely upon the banks of the waters of the Sanctuary Clark Mâ—r. part 2. p. 213. therefore go to Ordinances as the Viemaâ— lim a bird in America flieth to the fields for the dew which falls down from Heaven thereupon which it liveth Socrates one day meeting Zenophon the Son of Corillus in a certain Port Town â—â—og of aeâ— in viâ— stopt him with his staff and asked him Where was the place where several commodities were to be had He answered readily In such a place Then saith Socrates Where is the place that a man might be made good Zenophon answered he could not tell Then follow thou me saith Socrates and thou shalt learn and from that time he became Socrates Schollar The Ordinances of God are the places for both there true riches and vertue may be had the Temple is both the Exchange for traffique and a School for learning The good Mastâ—r teacheth his Schollars there those lessons which make them wise to salvation Reader the Ordinances are the food of the soul milk for babes and meat for men do thou feed on them to get spiritual health â—nd strength It is a shame for a Christian to be like an Anâ—â—busie about a molehil never to grow greater Goâ—o those wells that the vessels of thy soul may be filled with living water David longed as a Woman with Child so the word signifieth to see the beauty of the Lord and receive of his bounty in the Sanctuary Psa 84.2 and 63.1 2. and 27. Thou goest to the Market to supply thy bodily necessities and art ashamed to come home empty Dost thou not come to the Ordinances of God for the releif of thy soul indigencies and art thou not greived to come away poor and beggarly Merchants take in some goods from one part some from another part and at last come home richly laden do thou get some true riches at prayer some from the word and then how comfortably mayst thou conclude thy duties Do not rest in the formal performance of duties as the Harlot that cryed out Prov. 7.14 I have had my peace-offering to day and therefore all must be well but as the people when Moses went to speak to
God for them Exod. 33.8 they all looked after him to see what speed what success After thine attendance on Ordinances long and look for the fruit of them If a man present a Petition to a King he gives attendance to see whether it will be granted or no. It is a contempt both of Gods Majesty and Mercy for thee to throw down thy prayers before him and then to run away not caring what becomes of it When thou hast been speaking to God hearken what God will speak to thee for he speaketh peace to his people and to his Saints that they return no more to folly Let down thy Net into the Waters and expect to catch somwhat which may feed thy soul if thou fish all night and as the Disciples catch nothing look for the coming of Christ in the morning and that purposely to give thee a good draught of fish Reader remember thine errand at ordinances is to get grace thou hast Gods promise to them and his power and faithfulness both ingaged for its performance and it s thy fault and folly if thou goest hungry from a full table and empty from a free and large treasure Be as wise for thy soul as others are for their bodies The Country Tradesman wants commodities he goeth to London where is a Merchant that hath variety and abundance when he comes there he doth not spend his time in seeing fashions and visiting friends but in going to this and that Ware-house as his occasions require to buy Wares and you see sometimes what considerable quantities he sends home Go thou and do likewise Thou complainest that thou wantest grace go to Christ who hath variety and sufficiency for thy supply but do not go to see men or to be seen of men but to see God and to be transformed into his likeness go to this and that duty as shops where Christ sits and sels and buy Wine and Milk without Money and without price little dost thou know were this but thy business how certainly how liberally he would satisfie thee Why should the Tradesman be a better Husband for corruptible wares then thou art for durable riches Alas alas Christ is more willing to sell then thou canst be to buy to give then thou art to ask Balaam as bad as he was when he had prepared seven Altars and offered seven Sacrifices could expect to meet God and canst thou O Christian contentedly miss him surely he is a pittiful beggar that can go to the gate of a bountiful Peer where is plenty of provision for the poor and come away willingly without his Almes A good wish about religious Duties in general wherein the former Heads are Epitomized THe immediate Worship of the infinite God being a work of the greatest weight that ever I did or can possibly undertake yea that men and Angels are capable of I wish therefore that I may never enter rashly upon it but may ordinarily take some pains before hand The Introduction to the directions analised to aw my heart by a serious apprehension of the unconceivable greatness jealousie and holiness of that God to whom I am approaching how he is resolved to be sanctified either actively or passively Preparation in every one that draweth nigh to him and by a savoury consideration of the unspeakeable consequence of the duty in which I am ingaged how it concerneth the unchangeable welfare of my never dying soul in the other World I wish that all the time of the duty I may look as narrowly to my heart Attention as ever keeper did to that prisoner for whose escape he was to dye and bind it to the Altar as they of old their Sacrifice with the strongest cords of all watchfulness and circumspection imaginable Acting grace I wish that I may perform each part of the duty with sutable grace and to this end that all my graces may be upon the wing ready upon the least call to mount up to Heaven as several strings of a Vial wound up to their due height and pitch each in their place upon the least touch as occasion shall be to make Mâ—siâ—k in the ears of the Lord my God O that while my beloved sitteth at his Table my Spikenard may send forth a pleasant smell In particular Fear I wish that I may be so sensible of the infinite distance which is betwixt the incomprehensible Lord of Heaven and me a poor worm who lie groveling here on earth that I may both in my carriage and language affections and expressions behave my self throughout the ordinance with all godly fear humility and reverence I wish that I may be so truely affected with the sins and unworthiness of my person and performances and my Saviours infinite meritoriousness that I may carry all my Sacrifices to the High-Priest of my profession beleiving assuredly that they being perfumed with the odours of his death Faith and presented by his hands shall be Offerings of a sweet smelling savour to my God The end of duties Finally I wish that all ends of pride merit and self set a side I may therefore attend on duties that I may by my poor Peppercorn acknowledge those millions of eternal obligations by which I am bound to my God and also that by those Buckets O that they might never come up empty to me I may draw water out of the Well of Salvation Amen CHAP. XII How a Christian may exercise himself to Godliness in Prayer And first of Prayer in general and of the antecedents to it THe infinite and glorious God though be be so high that he humbleth himself to behold things in Heaven and so holy that the Heavens are unclean in his sight is yet so gratious that he condescendeth to and converseth with poor sinful dust and ashes amongst all those ways which he hath appointed the children of men to walk with him in Prayer is one of the fairest and pleasantest In this duty the children of God whisper him in the ear open their minds and unbosom themselves to him as his intimate friends and favourites He hath been pleased to command it not onely out of his Dominion over them and for his own glory He that offereth praise glorifieth me but also out of his compassion to them and for their good that by prayers as men far distant do by letters there might be a constant and uninterrupted intercourse and correspondence betwixt Heaven and earth Men by discoursing together come to be acquainted at first and continue their acquaintance by sending to and hearing from one another Prayer which is the speech of man with his Maker is a special means whereby he comes to be acquainted with God as also to increase and continue this acquaintance Prayer indeed bringeth Heaven down to man and prayer carrieth man up to heaven It is the chief duty wherein all the graces meet they shine brightly like so many glorious Stars in this Firmament Of all graces faith
special treasure into the hands of the Children of men that they might obey his will and know the just one And Reader it is thy duty to search and study this book When Kings send out their Proclamations either concerning acts of grace or some Law which their Subjects ought to obey they expect that all should take notice of them and give them the reading and hearing What an affront dost thou offer to the King of the whole World if thou turnest thy back upon his word I must tell thee it is no less then crimen loesae Majestatis He that heareth you heareth me and he that despiseth you despiseth me and he that despiseth me despiseth him that sent me Luke 10.16 Thou mayst think possibly that by neglecting to hear thou dost onely contemn the Preacher but beleive me it is a contempt of thy Maker Ministers are Gods Embassadors Now to deny an Embassador audience is one of the greatest disrespects which can possibly be offered him nay it is an affront to his Prince on whose errand he cometh and whose person he representeth and what is the conclusion usually of such bad premises but a bloody War Confider what thou dost when thou refusest him that speakest from heaven for if thou shuttest the windows of thine eyes from reading and the door of thine ears from hearing God may clap such a padlock of a judiciary curse upon them both that thou shalt never open thine eyes nor ears till thou comest as the rich Glutton to see Abraham afar off and Lazarus in his bosom and to hear and bear thy part in those dreadful screechings and howlings which are in Hell It is a mercy that the Tree of Knowledge the Word of God is not forbidden but commanded fruit nay that it groweth in the very path to the Tree of life O why shouldst thou then like the Pharisees reject the counsel of God against thy own soul If thou art a childe of Adam I am sure thou hast thy deaths wound now by neglecting the Word thou like a frantick Patient throwest away that plaister which onely can cure thee Do not say thou wast not warned of thy danger and duty I do here shew thee the hand and seal of the King of kings to that Warrant to which I require thy obedience The Scripture is the Word of Christ and God commandeth thee upon thine allegiance to hear him Colos 3.16 Matth. 3.17 The Word is the Cabinet in which thy Saviour that Pearl of infinite price is laid up and therefore thou art commanded to look into it for this Jewell Search the Scriptures for they are they which testifie of me John 5.39 The Word is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and speaketh such a diligent search as covetous men make for silver they spare for no labour that they may attain their Deified Treasure What shouldst not thou do for durables Riches and Righteousness But Reader if thou art a childe of God I doubt not but thou delightest to look into thy Fathers will and weightest every Word in it as knowing that in his Testament there is a great charge committed and a great legacy bequeathed to thee It is thy daily Companion and Counsellour thou darest not go without thy cordial being liable every day to faint nor without thy weapons being called every hour to fight The Scriptures are the light by which thou walkest and the tools with which thou workest Let me perswade thee to persevere in this gracious practice Take the counsel of the Author of it who is fittest to give Laws for thy carriage towards it Let the Word of Christ dwell in you richly Colos 3.16 The Word is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and signifieth to keep house with you Do not leave thy Bible as some do at Church and hear nothing of it all the week long but bring it home to thy house let it dwell with thee Let not the Word be as a way-faring man to tarry with thee but for a night and so be gone but let it be an inhabitant one that accompanieth thee to bed and board and with whom thou conversest continually as thy familiar and intimate friend Make thine heart as Jerome saith of Nepotians by his assiduous reading and hearing the Scriptures Bibliothecam Christi The Library of Jesus Christ I cannot but think that thou hast found the Bible so bountiful a Guest to pay thee so liberally for its board that thou hast bid it heartily welcome and wouldst not part with it for the whole world Agesilaws is commended saith Xenophon because he never went to bed nor rose up before he had looked into Homer whom he called his Sweet-heart Advise thou with a Divine at least as often as he did with a prophane Author Kings have their Counsellors and great men their Remembrancers Let Gods testimonies be the men of thy council Psa 119.24 Let not others negligence abate the least of thy diligence but rather by an Antiperistasis let their extreme coldness double thine inward heat As the fire is hotest when the weather is coldest so Davids heart boiled with zeal after it when the waters of others affections to it were frozen They have made void thy Law therefore I love thy Commandments above gold yea above fine gold Therefore I esteem all thy Precepts concerning all things to be right Psal 119.126 127 128. O consider what love the Saints of God have ever had to his Law Luther said That he hated the Books he made and could wish them all burnt lest the time spent in reading them might hinder the reading of the Scriptures O how love I thy Law saith David The godly have meditated therein day and night they have esteemed it above the sweetest honey and the finest gold the Martyrs in England have given much of their Estates for a few leaves of it and they laid down their lives before they would lose the precious fruit in it The French Protestants saith their Historian burnt in zeal to the Word whilest the bloody Papists burnt them for the Word Scipio Africanus was applauded for having usually in his hands the books of Xenophons Institutions of Cyrus O let this Book of books be often before thee and always in thee let it be thy mediation all the day One would think that he who knoweth and believeth the contents of the Word should hardly ever let a Bible be out of his hand at least he will lay it up as the two Tables in the Ark in his heart Scriptura est cor ipsa anima Dei Greg. One of the Fathers calls it The heart and soul of God Indeed as a man by his word discovereth his minde and will so God by the Gospel which is his Word revealeth his eternal good will to men It is the Copy of his everlasting love of which his Decree is the Original containing all his pecious thoughts before the foundation of the World of redeeming miserable man with the blood of his Son and making him an heir
surfeit Though Swine lye night and day in such mud do thou as the Sheep which sometimes fall into the mire but hasten out of it to the pleasant Medows Though the necessity of thy body calleth thee to thy recreations for a season yet let the necessities of thy soul and family call thee off from them in due time Let thy recreations be like a Porter whom thou mayst use for half an hour or an hour as thy occasions are and dismiss and not like an Houshold servant to dwell with thee constantly The Lacedemonians were so sparing that they are said to be even covetous of their time Secondly Look that thine end in them be right The end here will speak much to the specification of the act thy recreation must be as sauce to thy meat we eat sauce to sharpen our appetites to our food and to make us relish it the better so we must use recreations to whet our stomach to our callings and to make them the more savoury to us As musick to the Jews did stir up their minds and prepare their hearts for holy performances so lawful recreations may be used by us Gentiles to fit us for the service of God in our general and particular vocations The Saint by the comforts of his life may delight more in God the life of all his comforts He may follow these streams so long till he comes to the fountain of living waters He may conclude with himself If recreations by the creature be so sweet how sweet is communion with the Creatour The Musitian doth not leave his strings constantly wound up but sometimes lets them down and his end is that when he goeth again to use his Viol it may make the better Musick The wise Husbandman will not always cross-crop his ground but lets it sometimes lye fallow and his end is that sowing upon a Tilt he may have the greater crop So the Christian may allow his mind moderate release he may afford the ground of his outward man some rest but his end must be that when it comes again to be sowed to be employed it may be the more serviceable to God and his soul and truly so by going back a little he may have this advantage to leap the farther O how sordid a thing is it for men to use sports meerly to pass away their time hence they foolishly call them pastimes Reader art thou in haste to have some part of the thread of thy life cut off as if it were too long Wilt thou never consider that time is a silver stream running along into the Ocean of eternity and that eternity dependeth on the spending of this moment of time Dost thou not beleive that thy jovial companions now in Hell would give a whole world if they had it for one hour and that when thou thy self comest to dye and to look into the other World thou wilt say with the Roman General Sertorius in answer to his Souldiers who told him t was dishonourable to the Romans to pay tribute to the barbarous people inhabiting the Pyrenean Mountain Plut. Time is a precious commodity to be taken up at any rate Good God how much wilt thou think a Week a Day nay an hour worth For thy souls sake weigh thy time as it stands in relation to thine everlasting condition and then I am confident thou wilt aim at another end in thy recreations Though children go to school and work in hope of play yet men play to fit themselves for work Though wicked men have such sordid sinful ends in their delights do thou mind more noble and worthy designs Postotia virtus therefore oyl the wheels that thou mayst move the more chearfully and run the more swiftly in the way of Gods commandments Thirdly have an eye to the season of them Scholers have their play-hours yet if they be found playing when they should be at their books they must expect to be beaten The Master that doth not grudge his servant time to visit his friends and rejoyce with his familiars yet if he should do it when his work lieth upon the spoil he could not but take it very ill God alloweth us liberty for moderate delights but it is only when our general and particular callings will give us leave Cardinal Angelot is chronicled for a sordid person for stealing away the oats which his man had given his mare how sordid are those parents who steal their childrens food to pursue their own pleasures He that neglecteth his particular calling to follow his sports is like him that starveth his son to feed his swine And he that omits his prayers and religious duties to mind his pleasures is like him that is condemned to be hanged and hath only three days allowed him to procure his pardon in yet he spends all that time in hawking or hunting Recreations are like some fruits not always in season though at sometimes they are very wholsome yet at other times they are very hurtful The wise man tells us there is a time to weep and a time to laugh a time to mourn and a time to dance Eccles 3.2 and 5. There is a time to weep Sorrow is not always seasonable Dalilah disparaged her discretion by weeping on the day of her wedding There is a time to laugh Delights are sometime out of fashion He forfeits his credit that sports at a funeral Musick never suited with mourning In general recreations are then unseasonable when God and mens families are neglected that they may be minded when to give them water we are forced to make the Mill of our general and particular callings to stand still O what a fool is that voluptuous youngster who having no more horses then what is sufficient for his ploughing will yet take one to hunt upon and thereby cause the rest to be idle and his business to be undone But how mad is that person who Esau like is hunting and thereby misseth the blessing In particular our recreations are unseasonable on a Lords day and in times of publick calamities 1. Recreation are unseasonable on a Lords day Carnal pleasures must then vanish and spiritual pleasures must take place Our joy must be pure and heavenly on that day It is an holy day and therefore cals for holy delights God inviteth the Saint on that day to his own table provideth for him costly curious food and expecteth that he should come and not bring along with him the worlds course fare Observe the precept in the Evangelical prophet If thou turn away thy foot from the sabbath from doing thy pleasure on my holy day and call the sabbath a delight the holy of the Lord honorable shal honor him not finding thine own pleasures then shalt thou delight thy self in the Lord. Is 58.13 14. Take notice from doing thy pleasure on my holy day our pleasures are such as flow from creatures now the Wine which makes glad the heart of a Saint on a Sabbath must be
who cannot hear what is spoken by reason of the clacking and noise which is made there Christ calleth and the Spirit of God cryeth to them but their eares are stopt with earth that they hear not As we say of fire and water they are good Servants but bad Masters Keep them within their bounds and they are exceeding useful but when they go beyond their bounds how hurtful are they What mischief hath fire done in England what sad work hath water made in Holland The same is true of our particular callings they are faithful Servants but they are dreadful Masters Keep them within their limits and they are helpful to our selves our relations and our neighbours but suffer them once to transgress their bounds and they will make miserable work they will rob God wrong the soul nay often ruine it eternally When those that were born slaves and servants come once to be Kings and Commanders they are ever the worst Tyrants Now if thou wouldst not have thy particular calling to incroach upon thy general take heed that it steal not away thy heart nor thy time 1. Take heed that thy particular calling steal not away thy heart from thy general calling If the Mistris keep her distance and maintain her authority over her maidens she may find them obedient and serviceable but if she grow fond of them and familiar with them they will grow saucy and incroach upon her Reader keep thy inward distance and maintain that authority which God hath given thee over the things of this life and then all will be well butif once thou doatest on them and delightest in them expect to have them thine hinderances in all holy exercises The World may have thy hands but it must not have thy heart Thy actions may be about thy particular calling but thy affections must be above it Set your affections on things above and not on things below Collos 3.2 Thy occupation is as the first Adam of the earth carthly but thy conversation must be like the second Adam the Lord from Heaven heavenly A Christian should follow the things of this World with such a slightness and indifferency of Spirit as Wicked men do the things of a better World The holy Angels behold our earthly affairs but as strangers to them It is happy for him that can carry himself towards his own estate as if it were another mans An heathen could say I do not give but onely lend my self to my business Surely then a Saint should go through th World as one in a deep study Rebus non me trodo sedcousmodo Senec de benef his mind being the whilst intent upon a better object Brutish Horseflies fasten on Dunghils Swallows make their nests of earth They who have no Heaven hereafter may give their hearts to the earth but Christian if thou lovest thy soul though riches increase set not thine heart upon them Love not the World nor the things of the World Psa 62.10 This is a certain truth the hotter thy love is to the World the colder it is to the Lord. When the sap of Worldliness is in a man he will never flame well heavenward The Ship may sail in the water and be safe but when the water getteth into the Ship it sinketh it Thou mayst work about thy earthly affairs and all may be well but if thine affairs once work themselves into thee then thou art in danger Thy God alloweth thee to warm thy self at the Sun of creature comforts but not to turn Persian and worship it The Riviers lightly salute the earth as they pass along and make no stay but pass forward to the Ocean Thy affections should but slightly touch the earth weeping for worldly crosses as if thou wepst not and rejoycing for Worldly comforts as if thou rejoycedst not and so pass on to the Ocean of thy happiness It s said Germanicus reigned in the Romans hearts Tiberius onely in the Provinces Thy general must reign in the City in thy heart thy particular calling onely in the Suburbs of thy hands Reader if the World ever get into the throne of thine inward man fare wel all Religon I have read of a custom among the Germans to know whether their children be bastards or not to throw them in Fluvium Rhenum into the River Rhine If they floated above then they acknowledged them to be their own but if the waters carried them away then they esteemed them as Bastards Truely Reader if thou canst float above the waters of thy worldly imployments thou art a child of God but if that carry thee away by lying near thy affections look to thy self and fear thy condition It is not the greatness of mans estate or employment so much as the nearness of it to his heart which will hinder holiness A small hat held near our eyes will hinder our sight of the Sun which a great mountain a far off will not do A little near the affections will hinder our sight of Christ when thousands far from the heart may as imployed further it Besides the closer we lay the flowers of our earthly mercies to our breasts the sooner they wither A nosegay in the hand will continue fresh and sweet as is generally observed much longer then when it is stuck in the bosome 2. That thy particular calling may not incroach upon thy general be careful that it steal not away thy time Thy piety Reader and thy prudence is so to order thine affairs relating to heaven and earth to God and thy family that they may not interfere or cross each other A wise foreceast will much help thee in this particular As to the winding a skein of silk he that begins at the right end will make quick riddance of it so to the dispatching of Wordly imployments that they may not prove heavenly impediments he that hath discretion to forecast them well may do very much However thy duty is to give the affairs of thy soul and thy God precedency I know the Devil and thy corrupt heart will often justle and quarrel with thy Closet and Family duties by suggesting to thee that they must of necessity be omitted because otherwise such and such concernments of thy calling upon which the welfare of thy self Wife and Children doth depend will be neglected As when Moses spake of the Israelites sacrificing to God then Pharoah spake of work to put them off so when thou art thinking of entring upon the performance of duties whether in secret or private thy back friend the evil one will send thee a message either by thy Wife or friend or thine unregenerate part that some other affairs of weight call for thy company elsewhere and therefore a dispensation must be granted thee at present as to thy solemn devotion Friend if thou lovest Jesus Christ take heed of hearkening to such temptations let the flesh but once obtain such a conquest over thee and thou shalt hear of it again it will pursue its victory to
comfort of thy life for a little perishing wealth and make thy whole time on earth bitter out of a love to a little fading Treasure It was the advice of the late Earl of Salisbury in his Book of Precepts to his Son That he should be exceeding careful whom he matched with because as in a project of War when an Army is foiled by the Enemy they seldom recover so to erre once in the choice of a Wife is usually to be undone for ever and the more cause there is of special care because he that seeketh out for a wife goeth to a Lottery where he shall meet with ahundred blanks for one prize But I am perswading thee to circumspection in this particular not upon a Politick but a Consciencious principle as thou wouldst exalt Religion in thy habitation Next to thy self thy Wife will be the best friend or worst foe that Godliness can have in thy Family Nay possibly and probably too if thy Wife should be wicked though thou art at present like a sound Apple thou mayst quickly be speckt by lying neer one that is all over rotten The nearer the relation the easier and speedier is the infection He that could overcome a Lyon to his glory was himself overcome by a woman to his sin and shame The most perfect man Adam the strongest man Sampson the wisest man Solomon were all betrayed by their Wives into the hands of their spiritual Enemies the meekest man Moses hearkened so much to his Wife that it was like to have cost him his life Some Expositors give this reason why Satan spared Jobs Wife when he slew his children not to comfort him surely the Devil did not love Job so well but to cross him by provoking him to curse God The Devil knew that none was so fit to present that poysonous potion with success to Job as his Wife that if he ever took it her fair hands must give it and her sugred words sweeten it Solomon saith Wo be to him that is alone surely it is also true Wo be to him who is not alone but hath a wicked wife like a snake in his bosom Reader Dost thou want a Servant choose for God not for thy self Let not thy main quaere be Whether he can do thy work but Whether he will submit to Gods Word Though the former must not be neglected yet the latter must be preferred It may be for advantage sake thou receivest a drunken or swearing person into thy house but dost thou consider that he will be an Achan a troubler of thy Family Canst thou think to do Gods work with the Devils tools Put off thy disguise of Christianity if thou esteemest thy particular calling above thy general Besides Dost thou know what thou hast done thou hast taken into thy house an Usher to instruct thy children in the black Art of Hell Believe it thy children will catch sins as soon as vermine from those that are of Satans ragged Regiment Thy Sons and Daughters are like Polypus in Aelian that turneth to the colour of that rock or weed in the Sea which lieth nearest Once more thou wilt be frustrated in the end of thy entertaining such a servant for they will never be faithful to their Master who are unfaithful to their Maker Constantius the Father of famous Constantine gave out That all such as would not deny the faith should be deprived of their honor and offices Whereupon several forsook the Faith others stuck close to the Truth Whereupon the Emperor when he had discovered those halting hypocritical persons turned them all out of their places saying That they who were false to God would never be faithful to man I do a little question his policy in the premises but his piety in the conclusion is out of question for they who will rob God of his glory will if opportunity serve rob men of their goods and good name too It is recorded to the credit of Queen Elizabeth that she would suffer no Lady to approach her presence of whose dishonesty she had the least suspition Friend mark and follow the man after Gods own heart Mine eyes shall be upon the faithful of the land that they may dwell with me He that walketh in a perfect way he shall serve me He that worketh deceit shall not dwell within my house he that telleth lies shall not tarry in my sight Psa 101.6 7. As thou wouldst have Gods company in thy family do not entertain his enemies into thy family What communion hath God with Belial As thou wouldst make Religion thy business avoid those quench-coals those hinderers of holiness Bid the workers of iniquity depart if thou wouldst keep the commandments of thy God Psalm 119.115 Secondly Mind holy performances in thy family Every Master of a Family is a Priest and his whole family should be a royal Priesthood offering at least morning and evening sacrifice to God Ita haâ—eto solicitudinem Dâ—musut aliquam tamen vacationem animae tribuas Hier. ad Celant acceptable through Jesus Christ The Jews had sacrifice in their Families as well as in the Tabernacle Exod. 12.2 Let me go I pray thee for our family hath a sacrifice in the City saith David to Jonathan 1 Sam. 6.20 It was prophesied that in the days of the Gospel the spirit should be poured down upon men and they should see Christ and mourn every family apart Zac. 2.10 It was the advice of Hierom to a pious Matron So take care of thine house as alway to allow liberty and time to thy soul the Governour hath the cure of the souls as well as of the bodies in his familie and if he mind their outward man and neglecteth their inward he is but a brute in humane shape for beasts feed the bodies of their young As the School fitteth young men for the University so holy performances in private prepare servants and children for and help them to profit by the Ordinances of God in publique A foundation well laid by the Master of a Family is a great help to the Minister when he goeth to rear and raise the building Confident I am our work would not have half that difficulty which now it hath if Masters of Families would but do their duties he that findeth his timber ready hewn to his hand hath a great advantage in setting up an house of him that must fell bark season and hew it himself It is no wonder that an Apprentice is so backward to his work and so bungling at it when he is wholly unacquainted with it and a stranger to it If Children and Servants were accustomed to religious exercises at home Sermons would not be so tedious nor Sabbaths so tiresome to them as they are The ordinary duties in Families are prayer reading the Word with instructing Children and Servants out of it and singing 1. Dr. Bernard in his life and death Prayer must be in families It s said of Bishop Vsher that he had Family prayer four
this and hast thou not abundant cause to be heedful lest by thy pattern thou shouldst draw thy Children to sin and to Hell The Idolatrous Israelites drew their children to joyn with them in the Worship of false Gods Ezek. 18.2 Plutarch observeth of Cato that he was very wary not to speak an uncomely word in the presence of his Children Plut. in vit Cat. This Heathen will condemn many Christians who will curse and swear and drink and roar and that in presence of their children Reader avoid sin both for thy own and others sake As a stone thrown into the water makes but one circle at first but that one begetteth many so though the sin in thee at first be but one ye it may cause many both in thy children and servants The sin of a Master or Mistris is like an infectious Air which others breathing in are infected by it Thy servants will as readily put on thy lusts as thy livery and thy Children will be proud of such a patronage such a cloak for their villany A dark eye benights the whole body Weigh all thy words and all thy works considering how many followers thou hast he that sinneth once sinneth twice if he sin before others Be serious and diligent about the concernments of God and thy soul that others may take example by thee The biggest Stars are brightest and give light to those that are of a lesser magnitude Thou who art the greatest shouldst be the most gracious in the family if the Sun shine not on the mountains it must needs be set in the vallies If thy children and servants behold thee careful of thy language and consciencious in thy carriage when they see thee humble fervent constant and serious in holy duties they may learn by thee and write after thee such a patten may tend exceedingly to thy spiritual profit It is observed of Caesar by Cicero that he would never say to his Souldiers Ite sed Venite Go ye but Come ye marching before them himself and giving them a pattern Do thou Reader go before thy Family in Sobriety and Sanctity as their faithful Captain and they may sooner then thou expectest follow after thee Naturalists tell us of the Mulberry tree that there is nothing in it but what is Medicinal in some sort or other the fruit the root the bark the leaf all are useful Truly so it ought to be with thee All thy expressions all thy actions should be instructions to thy Inferiours Thy behaviour in private in publique towards God towards thy Wife towards thy Children towards thy Servants towards thy Neighbours should all be Lectures to teach others Religion and Righteousness that you may be able to say to your Children as Seneca to his Sister Though I can leave you no great portion yet I leave you a good pattern Besides one work required of thee as I shall shew thee before the conclusion of this Chapter is to admonish and reprove others in thy family for their faults which with what face canst thou do or with what hope of success unless thou art free thy self It was a shame to Plutarch that his Servant should say My Master writeth falsly he saith it is unbeseeming a Philosopher to be angry ipse mihi irascitur and he himself is angry with me If thou reprovest thy childe for not praying and thy servant for drunkenness and art guilty thy self though thou acquaintest them never so much with the wrath of God which will certainly seize upon Atheists and Drunkards they will never believe thee for they know thou dost not believe thy self Thy words would seem to draw the nail of sin out but thy works are such an heavy hammer that they drive it in to the very head When the rude Souldiers saw the Roman Senators sit gravely and discourse soberly they took them for gods and were awful of them but when they perceived one of them to grow waspish they took them for men and spoiled them Herod feared Johns reproof knowing that he was a just man Mark 6.20 Where there is piety in the person there is majestie and authority in the reprehension Let the Righteous smite me Psal 141.5 The Snuffers of the Sanctuary were of pure gold He that would reprove others dimness and make them shine brightly with the light of holiness had need to be irreproveable himself Reader walk unspottedly otherwise when thou threatenest thy children or servants with the judgements of God against fin thou dost like David pass a sentence of death and condemnation against thy own soul Fourthly Be careful and diligent that thy whole Family may sanctifie the Lords Day When the Israelites were to sacrifice to God in the Wilderness they went with ther little ones and all their housholds Exod. 12. When Elkanah went up to sacrifice to the Lord all his house went with him 1 Sam. 1.21 Thy duty is according to these examples to see that all thy family unless necessity should hinder serve the Lord in publique Do not suffer any of thine to be playing idly in the Churchyard when they should be praying earnestly in the Church nor to be talking vainly of the World when they should be hearkning reverently to the Word O what pity is it that they should be sucking poyson when they should be sucking milk out of the breasts of Consolation The fourth Commandment doth fully speak thy duty not onely to be careful that they forbear thy work but also that they minde Gods Worship Thou knowest not but that thy childe or servant by missing one season may miss of salvation Possibly they are wrought hard in the Week days and have very little time for their souls so that their onely time of improving their spiritual stock by trading towards Heaven is on a Sabbath Day Or it may be they are careless of their main work of providing for the other World all the Week that if thou shouldst neglect them on the Lords Day they will he left under a necessity of perishing Surely they who have but one good meal in seven days and are robbed of that are unconceiveably wronged When David came to his Brethren to the Camp Eliab said to him How camest thou down hither Where is the flock and with whom hast thou left those few sheep in the Wilderness 1 Sam. 17.28 I know the pride and the haughtiness of thy heart Give not God cause to greet thee thus at Church How camest thou hither Where is thy flock thy Family With whom hast thou left those few sheep thy Children and thy Servants I know thy pride they are not good enough to come along with thee or to be minded by thee or I know thy covetousness thou hast imployed them about earthly businesses or I know thy carelesness and Soul-cruelty thou carest not what becometh of them whether they be saved or damned for ever I tell thee Friend some Gentlemen by going abroad alone without their servants have lost their silver and
for ought I know by thy going to Church without thy company thou mayest lose the blessing and efficacy of the Ordinances How canst thou expect that God should have any care of thy soul when thou tramplest the precious souls of others under thy feet which he hath given thee special charge of O Reader think of it Are not thy children and Servants strangers to God and alienated from his life through the ignorance that is in them And is not the Ministery of the Word appointed to turn men from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God How shall they be converted if the Ordinances of God be neglected Though a person be dangerously diseased if he observe his purging days according to the advice of his able Physician there may be hopes of recovery but if he neglect the means if he perish it will be no marvel If thy children and Servants are holy canst thou expect the fire of Grace should continue or encrease whilst thou takest away the fuel Dost thou think that Spiritual Life can be maintained without Spiritual Meat In private also be watchful over thy Family that all under thy charge be present at holy duties as Singing Praying repetition of Sermons and the like Thou art careful that in the Week days they do work diligently and why shouldst thou not be as careful that they do Gods work on his day Is thy work of greater concernment then Gods or dost thou love thy self the poor withering World I mean above the blessed God Examine those who waited on the Word of God in publique what good they have got what lessons they have learned from the great Master of Assemblies Our Saviour after Sermon asked those of his Family Have ye understood all these Sayings Mat. 13.5 Hereby thou wilt make them more attentive in publique Ordinances and better their memories as also by this means thou mayest quicken thy own affections Suffer none of thy house to spend any part of the day either in idleness pastimes or worldly business Thou art accountable to God as well for sins of permission as for sins of commission and it will another day be imputed to thy charge if the day be prophaned by thy carelesness If thou wouldst not suffer for others do not suffer others in sin Fifthly Let Discipline be set up in thy Family When Jacob would dedicate his house to God he commandeth all his Family to change their garments and put away their strange gods Their change of garments did signifie that change of heart and life which he desired should be his housholds livery Gen. 35.1 2. As the Governor of a Family must be a Priest to pray and a Prophet to teach so also a King to rule to be a terror to evil doers and an encouragement to them that do well in his family Let not wickedness dwell in thy Tabernacle Job 11.14 Zophar meaneth not a natural or personal though so the word is sometimes taken as 2 Cor. 5.1 but a domestical and civil Tabernacle Though sin may come into thy house by children or servants commission yet it must not dwell there but be cast out by severe reprehension Wickedness is a bold guest it will come uncalled but it must be more bold then welcome it must not dwell in thy Tabernacle It is said of Cato he would bear with faults any where rather then at home Bishop Jewel at night called his servants to an account how they had spent the day and after prayer admonished them accordingly Thy duty is to warn the unruly 1 Thess 5.13 to acquaint them of sin how near and dear soever to thee with the dishonor they bring thereby to God the disgrace to the Gospel and the disadvantage and destruction to their own souls If the fault be the first or of infirmity or not so great a sin as to waste the conscience and poyson thy family by its pattern let the medicine thou appliest for its cure be milde Earthen glasses must be tenderly washed when iron vessels must be scoured with wisps Of some have compassion making a difference Jude v. 22. Who would that is wise give the same physick to an infant which would purge a lusty grown person Isa 28.27 28. For the fitches are not threshed with a threshing instrument neither is a cart-wheel turned about with the Cummin but the fitches are beaten out with a staff and the Cummin with a rod. If the crime be crimsom and scandalous or repeated or justified rebuke sharply hard knots must have strong and sharp wedges Others save with fear pulling them out of the fire Jude v. 23. In such a case weak physick will onely stir not remove the disease and thereby leave the Patient in a worse condition then it found him Nettles touched gently sting the more A prick with a rapier is more dangerous sometimes then a wound with a sword because the latter wideneth the orifice and thereby maketh the place more open to the plaister which should heal it It is much better for them to be preserved in brine and pickle then to rot in flesh-pleasing and fondness Kindeness and bearing with such in thy family is like the kiss of Judas to Christ a betraying them and like Joabs salutation to Abner destroying and killing them Be sure therefore not to bear with any under thy charge in sin Have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness but rather reprove them He is a drone unserviceable to his house his hive who hath lost this sting of reproof Pious Asa would not suffer sin in his own Mother Asa removed his mother Maachah from being Queen because she made an Idol in a grove and Asa cut down her Idol and stamped it and burnt it at the brook Kidron 2 Chron. 15.16 Patient Job would not suffer sin in his own Wife Thou speakest like a foolish woman Job 2.6 Plain-hearted Jacob would not suffer sin his his own Children Ye have troubled me to make me to stink among the inhabitants of the Land Cursed be their anger for it was fierce and their wrath for it was cruel Gen. 34.30 and 49.7 David would not abide sin in a Servant Psal 101.7 nor Edward the sixth in his own Sister Let thy reproofs against sin be mingled with and so managed that they may manifest love to to their souls When the nail is dipt in grease it entreth without renting the board When reprehension is dipt in and tipt with love it will probably enter the heart without cutting it in pieces with rage and revenge Prudence may do much towards the advancement of the offendors profit in this particular Though thy words should be soft yet thine Arguments should be hard against the sin committed To this end let thy reproofs be as near as may be in Scripture phrases that the offendor may see it is not so much man as God who rebuketh him for his fault The Word is a hammer if well laid on it will drive the nail of
will bring the plague along with them One scabbed sheep may wrong the whole flock one putrid grape corrupt a cluster a little Leaven Leaveneth the whole lump Lord in the choyce of inhabitants for my house let my eye be not onely upon my own welfare and their fitness for my work but chiefly on thy glory and their willingness to work the work of him that sent them into the World Ioh. 9.4 Psa 26.4 5. and 119. Let me hate the congregation of evil doers Let me not sitwith vain persons Let mine eyes be upon the faithful in the Land Let them that fear thee turn unto me and such as keep thy righteous judgements Let me dwell with them here on earth with whom I shall dwell hereafter in the house not made with hands but eternal in the Heavens I wish that that there may be a Church in my house and all the persons in it 2 Mind holy performances in thy Family both Morning and Evening at least imploved in those holy performances which my God requireth My house should be a resemblance of Heaven Above in his greatest and most glorious house my God is served without ceasing and without sinning O that though in his lower and lesser house natural and civil actions cause intermission of and the body of death causeth imperfections in holy duties yet he might be worshipped both constantly and perfectly in a Gospel and Evangelical sence I have read that amongst the worst of Turks the Moors it is a just exception against any Witness by their law Prayer that he hath not prayed four times in every natural day â— Hall Contemp. I wish that none in my Familie may be worse then Turks but that both all apart may secretly and all together may privaetly offer up the Morning and Evening Sacrifice of prayer and praise to the Lord my God Daniel would pray three times a day though he were cast to the Lions for it and shall my Family neglect prayer when the Omission of it will make them a prey to roaring Lions It is the honour and happiness of my house to exalt the Worship of my God in it his Service is the greatest freedom his work is a reward to it self why should we be our own enemies in banishing our best friends out of our family The mercies of my God are renewed upon me and mine every Morning his care and love is continued to us all the day long the dews and showrs of his compassion fall down upon us every Evening shall we be forgetful of him who is every moment so mindful of us O let my Family never be so void of grace and manners as not to bid our God Good-Morrow and Good-Night upon any pretence whatsoever I wish that the word of Christ may dwell richly in my heart and house Scripture instruction and Catechising that my whole familie may have their set meales every day of this Spiritual food How can I expect that Children or Servants who know not the God of their Fathers should serve him with perfect hearts Alas how often are their ignorant hearts like dark Cellers abounding in vermine full of sin 1 Cron. 28.9 O that I might so talk of the Word of God in my house Deut. 6.7 8. when I lye down and when I rise up that it may be written upon the Posts of my House and on my Gates that I may so often water the young plants in it that their first acquaintance may be acquaintance with God and from their childhood they may know the holy Scriptures and be wise to Salvation through faith which in Christ Jesus Though others care be to instruct their Servants onely in their own work let my care be to instruct mine in Gods Will and Word Though others labour to leave their children rich let my endeavour be to leave mine religious Lord enable me so to teach them thy Trade in their youth that they may not depart from it when they are old Prov. 22.6 that their young years well led may be like the Sweetness of a Rose whose swell remaineth in the dried leaves I wish That all the voyces in my house may tuneably sing Gods praises Singing Psalms yet that they may not like Trumpets and Pipes make a sound being filled onely with winde but have hearts fixed and prepared when they sing and give praise O that all the Viols in my house may be so in tune and their strokes so true that singing with grace in our hearts we may make melody to the Lord. Drunkards have their Songs in derision of them that are good Atheists have their Sonnets in dishonor of the blessed God Why should not the voyce of joy and rejoycing be in the Tabernacle of the righteous Psal 118.15 Though my house is a Tabernacle and all the inhabitants in it Travellers yet our work is pleasant O let us go merrily on and make Gods Statutes our Songs in this house of our pilgrimage Because my pattern of evil will do more hurt to my family 3 Set them a good example then my precepts can do good servants and children being apt to be led more by the eye then the ear I wish That I may take heed to my self weigh and watch over all my words and works not onely for my own but also for the sake of them that are committed to my charge Distillations from the head often consume and destroy the vitals My family is like a flock of sheep if the first leap through into a ditch or river the rest are ready to follow O that I might therefore be wary in all my ways and be so serious in Spiritual so sober in Natural actions so righteous towards men so religious towards my God so faithful in every relation and so holy and heavenly in every condition that I may have cause to say to my children and servants as Gideon to his Souldiers Look on me and do likewise Judg. 7.17 I wish 4 See that thy family sanctifie the Lords Day That my house may not onely spend some part of every Week day but also the whole Sabbath day in the service of my God It is a special priviledge granted me by the Lord for my families profit wherein I may be singularly helpful to my own and my housholds everlasting happiness O that not the least part of it may be lost or prophaned by any within my gate either by worldly labour pastimes or idleness but that I may be so mindeful of my charge as to take care that my children and servants do forbear what my God forbiddeth and spend that Sacred Day altogether in Sacred Duties To which purpose I desire That all my houshold both males and females if of capacity may appear before the Lord in publique and in his Temple give him praise and that in private I may whet the Word on them as the mower doth his sithe by going over it again and again according