Life like beautiful Flowers in the Garden of the World making a Rape up the beholders Eye courting all the senses to gather them which fades away in the space of a day Let not then O Lord the Magick of these outward Prosperities so charm my Senses as to idolize such fleeting objects which glide away as a water-brook but arrest thou my Thoughts upon a more permanent beauty the injoyment of thy self that when Death shall gloom me the light of this life thou mayst beam my Soul with eternal Glory 45. Of uncertain Friends Solomon tells us That Riches take wings and fly away so doth uncertain Friends follow after leaving their quondam Cor-rival a pitiful object of Misery and Poverty whose Affections doth ebb and flow according to the turning Tides of Prosperity and Adversity as if Nature created a new Metamorphosis in their souls But happily O forsaken man mayst thou find some sure Friend some faithful Achilles who will cleave unto thee in thy necessity whose love is grounded upon some better Principles than upon such afleeting Foundation of inconsistancy Sanctifie O Lord every Condition with Contentment unto me If in thy righteous Judgment thou take from me all outward support 〈◊〉 is that I may lean more surely upon thy self though the Gusts of Adversity storm the out-work of my Body let my Soul through thy Grace retreat unto thee as a stronger Fort. And be thou O Lord a faithful Jonathan to chear my Spirit in my extremity with thy oyl of Charity 46. Of Poverty There is no greater Tryal to a Child of God than to bring him to the Touchstone of Poverty which will discover him Christian proof or not whether his Graces be true or false Gold or Brass so was the Patience of Job proved by that grand Artist Satan whose Arguments to God was Doth Job fear God for naught wherefore God suffered him to touch Job in his Estate in his Children in his Body and all to try this Saints Patience and to defeat the Policy of the Liar If in wisdom O Lord for my Souls good thou take from me what I have it is but what thou freely gavest me at first If thou strippest my body of outward raiment clothe my Soul I pray thee with thy righteous garment If thou nippest my outward man with Winter Poverty Summer my inward man with the grace of integrity that so I may appear in thy gracious Eye a right-begotten Child and not a Bastard 47. Of Prosperity and Adversity Prosperity and Adversity are two great Engines with which the Devil useth to batter the heart of man to make it malleable to his designs If the scorching rays of Prosperity will not make man forsake his garment of Integrity he will endeavour by the boisterous blasts of Adversity to drive it from him both was experimented upon Job but in a different manner God gave Job Riches for his Uprightness but the Devil made him Poor by taking them away but not his righteousness to his sorrow leaving him an Addition of Boils and Botches which made his body as sore as his soul which was grieved with uncomfortable Friends So able art thou O Lord to preserve man in every Condition manger all the malice of Satan but since there is such danger in these extreams fix I beseech thee my unstable Soul in a middle Sphere that Prosperity may not make me forget thee nor Adversity forsake thee but feed me with Food convenient for me 48. Of Afflictions Some men are so licentiously wicked that having rioted away their Fathers blessing they make themselves miserable by demerit even to feed upon sharp and short Commons till by the scourge of Affliction they are made to retreat to their Fathers house for better Provision So God oftimes deals with his rebellious Children as a loving Father with his extravagant Son who will not give him according to his lavish Appetite to make him worse but with the Prodigals Father sends him abroad to feed upon the Husks of Misery till he return better qualified happily appointing him a Garden to relieve him from starving O merciful Father since my Exorbitances hath made me uncapable of a more immediate blessing from thy own hand yet bless me O my Father in that providential way thou appointest for me so I may have Food and Raiment I will thankfully be content not repining at the Prosperity of others whose better Ingenuity hath made them capable of a greater Portion but shall account it a happiness that thy offended Clemency doth place me in the lowest forme above my deservings and if thou shalt think it needful for me to feed upon the Wormwood of Adversity to quell my luxurious Appetite Oh! may it be as wholesome diet to prepare my stomach for the bread of Life As the waters of Marah could not be drunk by the thirsty Israelites they were so bitter till sweetned with a bough cut from a Tree so are the Waters of Affliction when seasoned with the Branch of Christ Jesus to comfort the Vitals of a sin-sick soul and is as a Julip to cool the fevorish distemper of our Concupiscence If thou Lord still please to hold forth a bitter Portion to me let me receive it by the hand of Faith and drink it as the Cup of my Salvation Some things in appearance seem Instruments of much Cruelty as the Caustick Saw and knife which being put into the hands of a wise Chirurgeon are of excellent use for the preservation of life in the cutting off a putrid member so are Afflictions in the hand of God to pare away the proud flesh from our sin-swoln hearts and to dismember us of our sinew-corruptions Wise God which knowest a Remedy for every Disease where my soul is festred with the Gangreen of sin let the Caustick of thy word be my Cure that so I may come to thee though halting with the loss of a right eye or right hand Experience teacheth That the nature of Thunder and Lightning is to purge the Air of hurtful Vapours which infests our Bodies Such are the Judgments of God to clear away the foggy Meteors from our clouded souls raised by the fiery suggestions of Satan Since thou the great Commander of Heaven and Earth directest the Intelligences for the health of our bodies how much more good art thou unto our souls the images of thee our Creator If the Lightning of thy Grace will not tender our obdurate hearts it is requisite that the Thunder of thy displeasure should fright us into obedience rather than that our souls should perish so shall it be good for us that we have been afflicted He that goeth out of the path of Gods Commandments forsaketh his own safety runs out of life into the shadow of death out of the Protection of the Almighty into the Liberties of Satan where his life is in hazard every hour through the wounds of sin without the mercy of a gracious Samaritan Lord if my unwary soul chance to stray
Solomon a foolish Nabal a holy Isaac a prophane Esau of what sort soever he must be Deaths Prisoner Nay let there be a concurrance of all in one let Samuel be both a good Man and a good Minister c. and have as many Priviledges as are incident to a man yet can he not procure a Protection against this Officer his Mother may beg his Life but none can compound for his Death Speak we this according to men saith not the Scripture as much Wise men die saith David and Fools die Rich men die and poor too and therefore he calls both upon the Sons of Nobles and of the Earth to mind the Lesson indeed the Heathens could compare the Sons of Adam to Counters Chess Stage-plaies in reckoning Counters have their several Place and use for a time but in the end they are all jumbled on a heap in a Game at Chess some are Kings some Bishops c. but after a while they go all into the same Bag on the Stage one is in his rags another in his Robes one is the Master another the Man and very busie they be but in the end the Play ends the bravery ends and each returns to his place such and no other is the state of man We wear death in our faces and bear it in our bones we put it upon our backs and into our mouths and cannot be ignorant of it Yea the dead proclaim this Lesson go to the Earth and they that make their Beds in darkness and sleep in the dust will tell you that it s neither wisdom nor power nor strength nor friends nor place nor grace nor any thing else that can exempt from this Tribute of Nature Our deceased Brother here before us speaks this to all this vast Assembly If greatness of Spirit feature of Body gifts of mind chastness of life soberness in diet diligence in a calling Prayers of the Church would have given any advantage against death darkness and blackness had not at this time covered us That there is no Prescription against Death appears by these Reasons The first of which is taken from the Decree of God it s a Statute enacted in that highest Court the voice of Heaven that man should once die No man as yet hath breathed but he hath had his death or translation no man is yet to come but he must either see death or an alteration so hath Heaven concluded it and who can possibly reverse it The second is taken from the matter whereof all men are made the Scripture compares man to a house whose foundation is laid in the dust whose walls are made of Clay the whole is but a Tabernacle and that of Earth and that of mans building as Paul after Job tells us this is the estate of man of all men some are more painted than some but all earthen Vessels some more clear than some but all Glasses all built of earth all born of Women and therefore all short of continuance as Job infers The third is taken from the proper cause of Death Sin Sin is Poyson to the Spirits Rottenness to the Bones where it comes and where doth it not come And therefore now what 's to be done Vse 1. Surely as men that must travel stand not to dispute but Arm themselves for all Weather So must we die we must that 's already concluded young and old good and bad c. Whatsoever we be now we must be dead anon You will think strange perhaps of my pains in this kind whilst I perswade a Mortality For howsoever we can all say in the general we are Mortal nothing so sure as Death yet when it comes to our own particular we dream of an Immortality in Nature we never set any bounds to Life we do not resolutely conclude I must die shortly I may instantly this day may be the last that I shall see this hour the last that I shall spend this word the last that I shall speak this deed the last that I shall perform this place the last that I shall breath in and so live by the day by the hour But it is our duty daily to consider what it is to die what goes before it what comes with it what follows upon it For first before we come to the very Gate of Death we are to pass through a very strait long heavy Lane Sickness first tameth us which many times is worse than Death it self that renders us unfit for all Religious Services Prayer Repentance c. as being a time not of getting but of spending that cleaves the Head and pains the Heart and wounds the Spirits and leaves us so distressed that Meat is no Meat the Bed no Bed Light no Light to us that makes us catch at Death for help But alas what help in Death if not fore-thought of Oh the Misery of a poor Creature that is so pained that he cannot live so unprepared that he dares not die he goes to Bed but cannot sleep he tastes his Meat but it will not down he shifts his Room but not his pain Death saith the Conscience would end and amend all wert thou prepared for Death but to die before were to lose those Comforts one hath and to fall under those Curses that are unsufferable Ah beloved we may intimate somewhat of his Misery but it falls not within our thoughts to conceive what his fears be who hangs between Life and Death Earth and Hell thus forthwith ready to drop into flames at every stroke of Death and to sink down down down till he be gone for ever And yet this is not all When I am dead saith the Carnal wretch all the World have done with me He saith truth all the World and all the comforts of the World have done with him indeed he shall-never laugh more he shall never have a moments ease more But though the World hath done with him yet God hath not done with him he sends for his Soul having first taken order that the Body be forth coming convents that and dooms that and casts that from him with greatest indignation into such a place such a company such a condition as would make the Heavens sweat and the Earth shrink to hear it Ah beloved therefore without all delays as a man that is now dying as well as he for whom the Bell tolls though not haply so near to Death set upon two things First set your House in order next your Souls For the first you have your persons and things to look unto To begin with Persons so live with your Wives being Husbands with your Servants being Masters with your Children being Fathers as becomes dying Men exercise such wisdom kindness faithfulness mercy every day as thou wouldest do if thou knowest it to be the last day And for things mark me well hearken not to Satan who disswades all seasonable wills because he would administer the Goods by being timely in this Errand thou shalt not shorten thy days but
can master Passion so often to forgive Now mark what Christ Answers If ye had Faith as a grain of Mustard-seed ye might say unto this Sycamine Tree Be thou plucked up by the Roots and be thou planted in the Sea and it should obey you Though Christ might point to a Sycamine Tree there present yet doubtless that which he did chiefly aim at was this root of bitterness that corruption which is naturally in every one of our Hearts indisposing us to Reconciliation whereby the work is as hard to forgive offences as to root up spreading Trees Now if a grain of Mustard-seed will stock up this bitter Root and throw it into the Sea of forgetfulness where it may never grow nor appear more Oh where is your Faith then where is this grain of Mustard-seed to be found If ever the publick good did provoke us to exercise Faith in this Duty of forgiveness now even now it doth If the glory of one man of one Parish be great in passing by offences how eminent and exemplary will the glory of a City be To conclude Dear Friends keep your eyes your ends your aims Heaven-ward Christ-ward God-ward and whatsoever is against Heaven against Christ or against God be you against it And whatsoever is for Heaven for Christ for God be you for iâ— And if we walk according to this Rule peacâ— shall be upon us and upon the Israel of God But the Peace that is here spoken of and Brotherly Love being both now adays things scarce to be found I shall end this my Farewel Discourse with the following Poem out of the Ingenious Herbert Viz. Sweet Peace where dost thou dwell I humbly crave Let me once know I sought thee in a secret Cave And ask'd if Peace were there A hollow wind did seem to answer No Go seek elsewhere I did and going did a Rainbow note Surely thought I This is the Lace of Peaces Coat I will search out the matter But while I lookt the Clouds immediately Did break and scatter Then went I to a Garden and did spy A gallant Flower The Crown Imperial Sure said I Peace at the Root must dwell But when I digg'd I saw a Worm devour What shew'd so well At length I met a rev'rend good old man Whom when for Peace I did demand he thus began There was a Prince of old At Salem dwelt who liv'd with good increase Of flock and fold He sweetly liv'd yet sweetness did not save His Life from foes But after death out of his Grave There sprang twelve stalks of Wheat Which many wondring at got some of those To plant and set It prosper'd strangely and did soon disperse Through all the earth For they that taste it do rehearse That vertue lies therein A secret vertue bringing Peace and mirth By flight of sin Take of this grain which in my Garden grows And grows for you Make bread of it and that repose And Peace which every where With so much earnestness yo do pursue Is only there Closet Employment OR Several Vertues and Vices particularly Characterized with pertinent Applications under each Head fit for every Christian seriously to ponder upon all the days of his Life when he is by himself alone 1. Of Truth TRuth is like the seamless Coat of our Saviour without Rent or Division of Heresie or Error it is wove with the fingers of Love and put upon a gracious Soul by the hand of Faith which makes her a comely Bride in the Eye of the Bridegroom Lord if my mistaken Soul be misled through the dim spectacles of Opinion strip her of that dark Habit and vest her in the light of Truth as with a Garment 2. The Creator known by the Creature By the pourtraiture of Hercules Foot we find the Mathematical proportion of his body by the visible foot-steps of the Almighty in the tract of his Creatures we see in part the perfections of the Creator the Rays of the Sun directs my Eye to their glorious Orb the Rivals of the Earth to their Fountain-head the streams of the Sea to their immense Ocean that Flower of the Field which darkned the splendour of Solomon's Robe instructs me to contemplate the beauty of the maker Clear up O Lord the Eye of my dusky soul that what I cannot reach to by the sight of sense and reason my Vnderstanding may admire and see thee by faith in thy infinite perfections 3. Of Prayer Faithful Prayer is a winged Mercury which speeds our Necessities to God himself and pleads our Infirmities at the bar of Heaven and that with such winning Oratory as prevails with the Father of Mercies for a Blessing a promise apprehended by Faith not returning without the pardon of sin sealed by the Spirit of God as a Love-token to a Repenting sinner Gracious Father let not I pray the multitude of my sins or the greatness of my transgressions cloud my Prayers so as to turn them into Air but let them be as faithful Messengers of my Hearts desires to find Entertainment in the Court of Heaven and bring down the Pardon of my guiltiness with the Blessing of Grace to relieve my wants for my future comfort 4. Of Repentance The Soul of Man Naturally runs counter to the Commands of God like our Grandame Eve after forbidden Fruit till happily through the grace of God stopt in the career of her designs by Repentance as Balaam by an Angel which shews her Disease in the glass of the Law also her Remedy in the glass of the Gospel so that she becomes a gracious Convert Vomiting up those pleasurable baits of sin like an overcharg'd Stomack Luxurious Morsels that made her sick So Merciful art thou O Lord unto us which were such Enemies unto our selves that while we are posting in the high Road of Iniquity to our own Ruine thou turnest us back by the Angel of Repentance changing the complexion of our greedy Appetites from cursed Fruit to a Zealous hunger after the Bread of Life so good art thou to save us though against our wills 5. Of Humility Humility is rightly defined the Queen of Vertues the death of Vices the Looking-glass of Virgins and the Receptacle of the Blessed Trinity She is like the Vertuous Woman whose price is above Gold or Precious Stones her lowly Habitation is a gracious Heart where she sits Regent amongst other Vertues who as so many Daughters rise up and call her Blessed they are all exercised about strengthning the inward Man Humility levelleth Ambitious desires Patience teacheth to bear Afflictions Hope expects a deliverance from them Charity Relieves the Necessity of the Saints and covers a multitude of faults and Faith lays hold on Eternal Life Thus shall it be done to the Soul that the King will Honour Honour O Lord the Heart of thy Servant with these high-born Graces then enter thou King of Glory Humility's House thy own Fabrick that the Graces may bid thee welcome Let Humility Entertain thee as her gracious Guest
Habit him as his Son and as a Son of such a Father by all which he maketh the full demonstration of a perfect Reconciliation and not content herewith to give vent to his Joy that it might not overpower him whilst he confined it to his own bosom and perhaps also that those who had shared with him in his sorrows for the loss of a beloved Son might participate also in the joy of his Recovery he goes on bring out also the fatted Calf and kill it and let us eat and be merry for this my Son was dead and is alive again was lost and is found and they began to be merry In the midst of this extraordinary Jollity it happens the Elder Son who had always continued in his Duty towards his Father comes out of the Fields where he had been Negotiating his Fathers Affairs and wonders at the unusual Jubilee And when demanding the occasion they of the Family had made him acquainted with the whole matter he takes it ill and interpreting this marvellous transport of Joy at his Brothers return to be in derogation from himself as if his Father was too easie and inclinable towards him but severe to himself and unmind ful of the long and faithful Service he had done him begins to Expostulate the matter somewhat warmly with his Father but the good Old Man mildly replies Son I am very sensible of and set a just value upon the long course of your Obedience and I have it both in my Power and in my Will to Reward you 'T is true I have not hitherto made such Solemn expressions of my Love to you as I have now done upon this Occasion for the case did not require it you as you have been always Dutiful to me so you have had my House and all I have constantly to accommodate you as you have never Rebelled against me so you have never felt the hardships your Poor Brother hath undergone by his Foolishness and as you that have never offended me never could distrust my Favour nor need not such demonstrations of my Reconciliation which this former Guilt and Extravagancies of your now Penitent Brother renders necessary in his case so also was I never over-whelmed with Grief for you who were never lost but forasmuch as we have beyond all expectation received your Brother again whom we long since despaired of and had given up for lost you cannot wonder and you must allow me this unusual transport for I say again This your Brother was lost and is found was dead and is alive again But I will now Paraphrase no longer upon the Parable it self but proceed to the next Verse in my Text which containeth in it the purpose and resolution which the Prodigal Son had in his Heart upon the consideration of his sad and desperate Condition I will arise and go to my Father and will say unto him Father I have sinned against Heaven and before thee And am no more worthy to be called thy Son make me as one of thy hired Servants In the former Verse we have this Prodigal in his deep Meditations comparing things together and weighing them in the Balance But behold whilst he mused the fire kindled in his bosom and now he speaketh I will arise and go to my Father and will say unto him Father I have sinned c. In the words these three specials are observed First What he resolves to do I will arise Secondly To whom he will go viz. to my Father Thirdly What he will say Father I have sinned It was high time for the Prodigal to think of returning to his Father when he was perishing by his Disobedience and had no further refuge but in his Fathers Clemency and sure it is time for the sinner to Repent and return to God when if he be sensible of any thing he cannot but be apprehensive that in the course he is in the danger of his Eternal Ruine is as certainly impendent as it is more intolerable But now to come to the particulars And first we are to consider what he resolves to do I will saith he arise and go c. There is a three-fold Resurrection of a Christian The first is Sacramental and thus we rise again in Baptism The second is Corporal and so we shall rise again in the day of the Lord Jesus in our Bodies from the Grave The third is Spiritual which is his Resurrection in this Life in Soul from the death of sin Thus did this Prodigal arise and thus doth every true Penitent arise while he here liveth on the Earth The point may be this That Repentance from sin is as a Resurrection from death this is plain by the Apostles words Awake thou that sleepest stand up from the dead and Christ shall give thee light Vse 1. Is this so then Repentance is no such easie a matter as the World takes it to be the work of Repentance is no less Miraculous than the raising of the dead it is a work that cannot be wrought by the power of Nature but such a work as must be wrought by the mighty Power of God Vse 2. And that shall be to stir us all up thus to arise for if the Soul while it is in the Body arise not out of the Grave of sin sure it is the Body shall never rise out of the Earth but to shame and confusion use all good means therefore that thou mayest have thy part in this that so the second death may have no power on thee for otherwise it is impossible to escape the power of it by no means canst thou escape the pains of Hell Torments if thou dost not here awake stand up from the dead and with Lazarus come forth And goe It was a good and Holy motion which he had of arising this he doth not quench but cherisheth and nourisheth it he adds more fewel to this fire begun though but a spark to the good motion of arising he adds the second of going I will arise and go First then learn The good motions of Gods Blessed Spirit at any time in any measure though never so weak begun are not to be choaked but to be cherished When the Lord shall put any good motion into our Hearts we are to nourish and cherish the same to one good motion we must add a second and to that a third and to them many more and so fall to blowing and give not over until at length they break forth into a comfortable flame of Godly Practise He brings a forcible Reason Whereby you are sealed unto the day of Redemption This is the only Evidence we have of freedom from Condemnation this is Gods Mark and Character set on us and seizing us for his own This is like the Blood that was stricken upon the door-posts which shall make the Lord to pass over us and not to suffer the Destroyer to come near us when he goeth to smite the Egyptians By this we are assured that the day of
exceedingly and make sin out of measure sinful Secondly we rob God of his Honour and give not that unto him which is his right we would pluck out his Eyes that he should not see or at least judge him to be blind To think God seeth us not is a kind of Atheism for after a sort we deny him to be God And am no more worthy to be called thy Son See how he humbleth and abaseth himself even to the uttermost I am not worthy to be thy Son nay not worthy of the name of a Son make me but as an hired Servant and I shall think my self most happy Oh rare Humility yet greatly necessary because God is good to such But as for the Proud he beholds them afar off But to come to the Lesson and this it is Where there is true Repentance there is a sight and sense of a mans own unworthiness And it stands with good Reason for the Affections must needs follow the temperature of the Mind so that as the conceit of Holiness and Happiness doth puff up a Man in Pride and Presumption so the true sight and sense of his sinful and wretched estate must needs cast him down with shame and sorrow Let us then examine our Repentance by our Humility Hast thou truly Repented Then thou art truly Humbled and cast down with a sight and sense of thy sins and transgressions But in the second place I must fall from Exhorting to Lamenting for certainly there is but small store of true Repentance upon the Earth there is so little Humility among Men and Women Thirdly this may serve for Terror to all such who as yet have not this mean and base esteem of themselves Let all such know they are void of Grace I have Gods Word for my Warrant Behold saith the Prophet his Soul which is lifted up is not upright within him All those that are void of Humility are far from uprightness The higher the Sun is the shorter is the shadow the more grace the less conceit The emptiest Vessel ever sounds loudest and the fuller the less Wood that in burning yields the greatest smoak doth commonly give the smallest heat Those boughs which are most laden with Fruit those ears which are fullest of Corn do ever bend downward when the barren bough and empty ear stands upright So those that are emptiest of Grace evermore make the greatest ostentation and crack most of their own goodness Make me as one of thy hired Servants As if he should have said I dare not I do not make suit to be as before I was a Son I am unworthy of such favour yet vouchsafe me that favour that I may belong unto thee and although I am not worthy to be called a Son yet vouchsafe me to be a hanger-on let me have a Room and Service in thy House though it be amongst the company of thy hired Servants Here we see the case is altered while he was in the House no place was good enough for him but now that he hath been a while in a far Countrey and wanted of that Bread which his Fathers Servants had he doth desire to be in the basest Office This teacheth us this Lesson Gods blessings are better known and more esteemed by the wanting of them than by their enjoying The worth and value of Gods good Blessings are not known till we be without them Thus Vision was precious in the days of Ely when that was wanting And the Prophet Esay telleth the People of Israel that the blessings of the Lord should be excellent and pleasant to them after they had been pinched with the want thereof in their Captivity yea the bud shall then be beautiful c. The Use of this in a word is to teach us to esteem more of the good Blessings we receive from God and beware of undervaluing them lest we give the Lord occasion to deprive us of them These common blessings of the shining of the Sun breathing in the Air Meat Drink preservation in our going out in our coming in use of the Senses strength of Body and the like let them be more esteemed of thee alas consider how miserable thou art without these The Lord is fain so great is his Mercy and our Corruption to deprive his Children of many of these good 〈…〉 inferiour in degree unto thy Creator And therefore it becomes not thee to speak unto him but with the greatest Fear Reverence and Advisedness And therefore First this serves to Reprove many who rainy come into Gods presence without any preparation or due meditation of what they are to say or crave Small is the number indeed of such as do Pray but smaller is the number indeed of such as prepare themselves to Pray In the Second place let this Admonish us to prepare our selves before we come to appear before the Lord to call upon his Name whether in Publick or Private You know Goodly Buildings have some Magnificence in the Gate and great Personages Text saith He arose and came unto his Father Where we have first the parts of his Repentance which are two Aversion from his sin He arose Secondly Conversion to his God And came unto his Father Secondly We have to consider the circumstance of time when he did it which is implyed in this word And or So that is immediately he deferred no time but 〈…〉 and kindness of so good a Father This was that which made him so much to insist upon the name of Father I will go to my Father I will say Father The 〈…〉 and other Necessaries no doubt was grievous yet all this troubled him not so much as this that he had carried himself so undutifully towards so gracious a Parent Let this then be noted That nothing is so grievous to a true Penitent as this that by committing of sin he hath offended God This was that which most troubled David and went nighest to his Soul that he had sinned against the Lord and offended his Majesty by his committing of evil Against thee against thee only have I sinned and done this evil in thy sight The Reason of this the Apostle St. Paul giveth They have not received the spirit of Bondage again to fear but they have received the spirit of Adoption Which Spirit doth make them love the Lord and fear to offend and exceedingly grieve when he is offended As it is with a true Lover towards his Beloved Now for the Uses and first we may see here a difference between the sorrow of the Godly and of the Wicked Both grieve both mourn Ahab as well as David Judas as well as Peter Yet the sorrow of the one is Godly and bringeth Life the sorrow of the other Worldly and bringeth Death And therefore for thy further establishment know if thou dost truly grieve these things shalt thou find in thee First thou wilt grieve for sins of all sorts Original and Actual of Ignorance and of Knowledge of Commission and of Omission Secret and Open
my soul a zealous Holocaust to the flame of thy Altar 11. Of Chastity This single Grace of Chastity will admit of no Cor-rival but God himself in her Virgin-heart in which she erects a Temple of Love for the Lords delight scourging out all uncleanness with the rod of Sorrow dedicating it wholly to the Service and Honour of the Lord where Love and Beauty God and the Soul are espoused together in holy affection and sweet communion Give me O Lord what wilt thou give a clean heart truly devoted to thy service Though the stains of impure Cogitations and verbal Transgressions may unwillingly and unwarily break in to defile thy Temple O may the rod of Repentance drive them out but shield it I pray thee from that great abomination of desolation those deathful wounds of actual pollution to make it a stink of all iniquity but deck and adorn it with the graces of thy spirit that it may be made a beautiful habitation for thy honours reception 12. Temperance Temperance is as a comly Matron which walks soberly and warily in the wholesom path of Mediocrity between excess and defect her actings are to the health both of Body and Soul avoiding in order to Food and Raiment Superfluity and Sordidness being fed with Frugality and clothed with Decency as to the Soul her Religion very Orthodox running a most even course between blind Zeal and open Profaneness like the Sun in its Aequinox between the Winter and the Summer Solstice hating Enthusiasm Papism and Atheism with other giddy opinions coyned out of the Mint of inconsiderate Brains which begetteth nothing but Division Contention and Disaffection Most holy Lord who art holiness it self and delightest in the beauty of holiness pious hearts as mansions where thy honour will please to dwell square my Religion to the straight rule of thy word and so fashion my Devotion as may be most agreeable to thy own mind neither ceremoniously superstitious or irreverently rude but zealously affected in a decent and orderly manner as may be most sutable to piety and the honour of thy Majesty 13. Of Obedience and Disobedience A good natured Child will grieve that he hath offended his indulgent Father whereas a more rugged disposition will not come into the School of Obedience without much swinging Make me O Lord a child of Obedience by the smiles of thy mercy rather than by the frowns of thy Justice draw me by the silken twines of thy Affections and not by the ruff Cords of thy Corrections but if I be so ill-natured that the rays of thy love will not mollifie my hard heart let the awful stripes of thy fear make it tender so shall thy rod and thy staff comfort me 14. Of Gratitude and Ingratitude Thankfulness is the tribute of our Affections which we pay as a Rent-charge to the great Lord of Heaven and Earth by which we acknowledge his property in us and our Loyalty to him for all his blessings both for Soul and Body and nothing can out us of Possession discard us of our freedom or cancel the obligation of his love to us but Ingratitude that monster in nature which was one of the grand sins which ejected Adam out of his Garden of Paradice into a wilderness of Sin transformed Nebuchadnezar from a man to a Beast till he returned better manner'd and smote Herod in his Judgment-seat because he gave not God the glory Great God! in whose hands are all the Corners of the earth and the fulness thereof in whatsoever possession of thy blessings thy goodness please to place me as Tenant for life O may I esteem it far beyond my deservings that I may learn to be thankful And suffer not I pray thee my nature so ill to degenerate into Ingratitude as to alienate thy affections from me to out me of the Eden of thy favour and let me not be so blockishly dull as not to acknowledge thy property or so arrogantly peccant to rob thee of thy honour lest deservedly I incur thy righteous displeasure but ingratiate my heart I beseech thee with so good a nature as I may render my self a more perfect Creature to give thee thy dues belonging to thy honour and my self the comfort of thy gracious dispensations towards me 15. Of Mercy and Justice Mercy and Justice are the righteous Ballances of Heaven poized by the Hand of Truth which weighs to every one the Rewards of Life and death Mercy is filled with promises of life Justice with wages of death Faith lays hold on the Scale of Mercy through the merits of a Saviour Infidelity draws down Justice as a Recompence for Iniquity So righteous art thou O Lord in thy ways and just in thy Judgments who dispensest to every one after their deservings Merciful Father though the magnitude and multitude of my Transgressions be so heavy to draw down the Ballance of thy Indignation upon me yet being Counterpoized with thy Sons merits in the Ballance of Mercy they shall be found too light to condemn me and my Faith of sufficient weight to save me 16. Of Faith Faith is the Souls Optick which discovereth things afar off as if near at hand though darkly as in a Glass yet far surpassing all the Opticks of Astrology which takes the dimensions of the Orbs according to the sense whereas Faith maketh search into Heaven seeth God Almighty with all his Attributes in the beauty of Holiness Jesus Christ his Son sitting at his right hand interceeding for us the Holy Ghost proceeding coming down like fire to baptize the Saints with all the Heavenly Quires of Saints and Angels singing Allelujah to the King of Glory yea it discovereth Hell afar off with all its monstrosity the reward of our Iniquity seeth Satan compassing the Earth in persuite of the Mother and her Child to devour them but overcome by the blood of the Lamb. Thus O my Soul with this Optick of Faith thou mayest survey all the wonders of God making things invisible to the eye of sense visible to the eye of Reason Thus beholding thee O my God in thy glorious perfections in thy marvelous works in thy gracious Attributes let me experiment thy spirit of grace quickning thy wisdom teaching thy power supporting thy love comforting thy Justice tenderly chastising and thy mercy saving me let the light of thy countenance the splendor of thy Majesty so dart upon my soul through this Glass of Faith that thou mayest be in love with thy own beauty Faith again may be said to be the compass of the Soul which centers one part upon God the other upon the heart of man rounding a Sphear of a new Creation with circles of love through which she draws a Diameter by the Rule of the word which is as a Jacobs Ladder by the hand of an Angel to convey the Graces of God to man and the Prayers of man unto God Scale O my soul by this Ladder of Faith the Battlements of Heaven contend with thy Maker and
only Ephesus but all Asia gave their Worship How much greater is the World 's Diana vanity that not only Asia but the World it self prostitutes its Devotions She is Attended with three Golden Idols as vain as her self Pride Concupiscence and Lust the Worlds Trinity which entertains all Suitors with variety of Honours Pleasures and Profits To this Lady of Honour the Ambitious spirit makes his acquist esteeming himself as nothing without a bended Knee a popular Applause and a turgent Title which his Fancy feeds upon as the Camelion upon Air but if crost in his designs by any opposite to his assention he grows as lean as Envy can make him like the Birds that fed upon Zeuxis Grapes with pecking at shadows Hither also resorts to this glaring shrine the Idolatrous Miser whose Hydropick thirst after Gold like the Horse-leach after Blood cries Give Give his Heart is always digging with the Mold in this Earthy Mine never satisfied till Death Robs his soul from his silver Mountain and his Mouth is bunged with courser Earth Finally the Luxurious Gallant makes Court to this Goddess of Beauty who prodigallizeth upon her Wanton all her sinful Favours which may indulge the Flesh and please desire with her deeds of Darkness Enter not my Soul into these their secrets which lead down to the Chambers of Death but skip like a Hart over these Mountains of Vanity Soar with the Wing of Contemplation into a higher glory let thy aspiring thoughts transcend this Airy Arrogance as far as Light surpasseth Darkness Heaven surmounteth Hell where thou maist Tribute thy Devotions to a more Beautiful shrine the Blessed Trinity from whence thou maist derive everlasting Comforts eternal Honours which flie not away upon the Wings of Time durable Riches where neither Rust doth canker or Thieves break through and steal torrents of Divine pleasure which shall continually chear and refresh thy spirits where thou maist behold with perpetual contentment the loveliness of Beauty the splendour of Saints and the glory of Kingly Majesty 24. Of Infidelity The Fool hath said in his Heart there is no God so consequently neither Heaven nor Hell which Atheistical Opinion is too rife in the Hearts of many who live as without God in the World without hope of Heaven or fear of Hell so willingly incredulous are they of their own safety or Ruine that though they have the two Testaments Nature and Grace the Light of Reason and the Word of God to inform them the one convincing their Consciences the other to enlighten their Understandings yet are they such Passionate Zealots over their Lusts that they violently court the embraces of Hell like Pliny the re-search of his scorning Vesuvius they will doubtfully experiment their own destruction As in Mercy O Lord thou hast given me a Rational being capable of Divine Light as a true born Christian let not I pray thee the Powers of Darkness or my indulgency over sin muffle my Soul in unbelief to make me an Atheist but impress upon my Heart with the Seal of thy Spirit the true cognizance of thy self that I may know thee who Created me to be my Almighty Father thy Son who Redeemed me my Blessed Saviour the Holy Ghost who Sanctifies me my gracious Preserver That I may know Heaven a place of Honour a Kingdom of incomparable Love Hell a place of Horror a Lake of intolerable dolour let the beauty of the one invite my Affections the danger of the other fright me from sin and both be objects of my Souls safety 25. Of Pride Pride is a gaudy Brat of a Monstrous Nature begot by the Father of Lies upon a Presumptuous Heart whose Towring thoughts and Devil-like Disposition could not soar higher or center lower than God himself It was the Serpents suggestion to the Woman Ye shall be as Gods knowing good and evil A Temptation no sooner offered then embraced which brought a Curse upon her self her Husband and Posterity In sorrow shalt thou bring forth by the sweat of thy brows shalt thou eat Bread The Serpent not exempted Dust shalt thou eat upon thy belly shalt thou creep So that the Serpent was punished for Lying Adam and Eve for aspiring and eating Strangle O Lord in Love to our Souls such spurious Conceptions of the Serpents Pride in our Lustful hearts that they may not come to the perfection of Birth which will bring forth death But if we will not keep within the bounds of thy Commands but will through too much Curiosity peep into thy secreet Decrees and intrench upon thy Negative Precepts thou wilt make us acknowledge thee Righteous in thy waies and Just in thy Judgments 26. Of Hypocrisie Hypocrisie is similata sanctitas Vertue in appearance when Vested in her Saint-like Habit under which sin and Satan doth shrowd themselves to deceive the Innocent not unlike the Earth in the midst of Winter when Cloathed in her white Raiment spurious Broods of Toads Nettles and Adders lie mantled under her snowy Breasts but when the Sun ariseth in its vigour her Nakedness is uncovered and her Deformity appears So is it with our Earthy Hearts which Naturally brings forth mishapen Brats of Lusts veiled through the Devils Policy under the Garment of Hypocrisie transforming them as himself into Angels of Light Discover O my God to the Eye of my Soul such dangerous Impostors as sin and Satan that I may behold them in their Monstrous shape with detestation as the great Enemies of my Salvation and arise thou Sun of Glory with thy beams of Love upon my Soul and thaw away this rimy Robe from my frozen Heart that I may appear what in truth I am the greater Object of thy Compassions 27. Of Envy This Torturing Passion is like Prometheus his Vulture which continually Tyrannizes upon the Heart where it takes possession it soveraignizeth over the rest of the Passions not enduring any Competitor in the Common-wealth of Prosperity subjecting all the Lusts to be subservient to it if Covetousness come in competition with it for greatness of Reward Envy will be thankful to the Angel for one Eye to make the Miser stark blind If graceful Vertue sit in the seat of Dignity Envy will endeavour by Ambition to pull her down If Love cannot win Lady Beauty by fair Treatment Envy stirs up Raging Lust to deflower her If Thrift grow up in the Garden of Prosperity Envy presently sendeth forth Extortion to crop it If true Valour bear away the Prize of Honour Cowardise and Vain-glory are employed to asperse it by detraction This Envy is Attended with two sullen Passions Hatred and Malice the one is a sad sedement of continued Anger which settles upon the spleen causing it to swell upon every occasion in opposition to its object of discontent The other is ever hatching Mischievous designs for Envy's Practice Envious detractor Malicious sinner Hateful maligner who not only Robs thy self of quiet but also Thieves away from thy Neighbour his Goods and good Name If
Redeemer who hast healing under thy wings for every disease cure I beseech thee my wounded heart being sorely bitten with the venomous Teeth of my Viperous Passions direct the eye of my soul as the Israelites to their Brazen Serpent to look up unto thee for my speedy Remedy that so passing through the briers of this wilderness of sin or sinful wilderness I may safely enter by the Conduct of thee my great Joshua into the promised land of Eternal Rest 39. Of the Earth When I look upon the Earth invellopt in her misty weeds methinks I see her sit as a disconsolate widow mourning the Suns absence to exhale those Vapours from her clouded brow by the vertue of his glorious beams So if my foggy Soul sit benighted under the dark Canopy of sin and Error Lord let the shining of thy Wisdom enlighten the eyes of my understanding that I may see thee in thy beauty to the great comfort of my Soul in the fruition of thy Spirit 40. Of Light Light is a comfortable emanation breath'd from the mouth of God Let there be light and there was light without which the Fabrick of Heaven and Earth was an abortive swadled up in the mantle of obscurity it distinguisheth Colours discriminates objects of various forms properties and qualities with their several dimensions it shews the great perfections of the Creator in the visibility of the Creatures especially in that choice piece called Man the model of the greater World whose intellective Soul is made capable of a twofold light like the Sun and Moon Grace and Nature the one giving shine to the Science of Divinity the other of Morality whereby we come to know God in us and us in him Lighten O Lord I intreat thee my dark heart which indeed is no better than a confused Chaos invellopt with the clouds of sin and ignorance shine upon it with the light of thy countenance which may discover unto me my deformity making me seek for better perfection in the knowledge of thy will and practice of thy word which is a Lanthorn to my feet and a light unto my paths 41. Of the Sun That glorious Lamp the Sun hath several Properties according to the Subject-matter it meets with it hardens Clay and melteth Wax its beams lighting on a stinking Dunghil causeth a noisom savour but darting on a fragrant Garden produceth a pleasant smell Cleanse my heart thou Son of Righteousness of the filth of sin by the vertue of thy precious blood that it may not be exposed to the influence of thy rays as a putrid substance but as a Nursery of graceful herbs not as stubborn Clay but as soft Wax capable of the Impresses of thy Image so shalt thou be unto it the savour of life unto salvation and not the savour of death unto Damnation 42. Of mans Heart The Heart of man came a rich soil out of the hand of God capable of bringing forth rare fruits of Righteousness but the wild Boar breaking in upon it so rooted and digged it that it became a Wilderness of sinful Weeds O may that gracious hand so husband my wild and barren heart pulling up those brambles of iniquity and sowing in it such seeds of Grace and plants of Vertue watering it with the dew of his spirit and fencing it with his blessing it may become a Garden inclosed fit for the Lords delight 43. Of Riches Riches are but golden balls which the world trundels before her Minions in the race of this life which they with Atlanta greedily snatch up to their utter undoing losing the benefit of a better prize the Graces of Heaven For earthly Riches do but clog the wheels of the Soul which drives Heavily on like the Chariots of Pharaoh to destruction not but that Riches are the Gifts of God and Instruments of much good if rightly stewarded but man being over apt to bless his soul in them he honours the Creature more than the Creator Admit O Worldling that thou couldst with Alexander compass the whole World and that thy Lordships were richly stored with all kind of Cattel feeding with more sober security than thy self thy Egyptian Granaries stuffed with Corn thy Coffers filled with Gold and Silver sumptuous houses promising perpetuity to thy Name and Posterity with all which thou mightest indulge thy soul for many years yet consider the casualties thy Goods may be driven away with Sabeans thy Barns eaten with Rats and Mice Thieves break in and steal thy Treasure the Elements enemies to thy Houses and Children and lastly death with the Fool in the Gospel robs thee of thy soul who then art of all men most miserable if thou hast not with Job laid up inward Riches in the Treasury of a good Conscience which will strongly fortifie thee against all Assaults and chearfully bear thy Charges to Heaven whereas other Riches as heavy Plummets will sink thee to Hell What got Midas in the Fable by his Grant from Apollo to make his fingers as Philosophers stones to convert by touch all things into Gold that when he would have taken pleasure in his glittering Joys his stomach craving more suitable meat was choakt to death with Golden Morsels Convert we then this Fable into a real truth which will afford us better profit Be thou avaritious in the pursuit of a better Treasure by thy Orisons summon Heaven to instruct thee in this Art of Conversion this holy Chimistry that thou mayest change all things into the Gold of Grace Art thou in love with rich Pastures Christ the Shepherd of thy Soul will feed thee in fair Meadows with running Rivers Doth full Barns delight thee make Heaven thy Store-house for Bread of Life Doth glittering Wealth steal away thy heart cast it upon the waters of Poverty and it will bring thee an income of everlasting Riches Doth costly Buildings take up thy heart lay thy Foundation on that Corner-stone where thou shalt have a building made without hands not to be devoured by the teeth of time Wouldst thou establish thy Name to all Posterity get that white stone in which is a new Name written to perpetuity And which beside all these external Accommodations superads that Joy which is unspeakable and full of Glory which will be lengthned out to Eternity 44. Of Honour Honour is as light as a Feather pufft up and down by a popular breath according to the ebbing and flowing Tides of inconstant Affections witness proud Haman who in his conceited thoughts did herauldize to himself his own Dignity in riding upon the Kings horse with Royal Habiliments How gloriously did the Sun of his Honour arise upon the sphere of Ahasuerus's favour and how suddenly was it blown amongst the clouds of his Displeasure by the breath of a Woman With what Admiration did Marcillus ride in his Chariot of Triumph after his great Victories and presently by the turning wheel of Providence his Reputation overthrown and Laid in the dirt So inconstant are the Felicities of this
out of the narrow tract of life into the broad way of death O may the rod of thy love drive it in that I may walk with more caution having my feet shod with the preparation of thy Gospel 49. Of Life Natural Objects of instability instructs us of our frailty a bubble a vapor a shadow a flower are all Emblems of our Mortality which make their appearance like Philips Page to mind us that we are but men every day liable to the stroke of Death Yea man himself may read his nullity in his own Mirror for how many comes upon the Stage of this World and suddenly returns off as if they would only shew they had a being as if Nature gave them breath presently to bequeath it to death Some with Heraclitus acts a Lacrimae from the Womb to the Tomb others with Democritus a longer Commedy of much Vanity whose Exit oftentimes produceth a sad Catastrophe making more hast out of the World by the pangs of a sudden Death then they came into it by the Throes of their Birth so fragil and uncertain is our condition Muse we then our souls on these animate and inanimate Idea's of our short-lived Being What a curious Fabrick is that Chrystaline Hemesphere the Bubble as if nature composed it on purpose to remonstrate unto us by its sudden non-entity our Fragility A Vapor which is the exstract of all the Elements how soon is it reduced to its first Principles to shew us our speedy return to our original dust The Vmbra of the Gnomon how insensibly doth it steal away our time instantly hiding it self among the Clouds till it receive a second Being from the Sun which shadows forth unto us our vanishing condition to our earthly Bed till the Son of Righteousness reanimates us to eternal Happiness or Misery That Golden Flower of Affection the Marigold enough to dazel the eye of the Beholder doth emblemize unto us in the space of a day our Infancy Youth and Old Age. But admit we some of our Temperaments be so good that the storms of sickness doth not violate us in the Bud or sudden death deflower us in our full blown Glory yet considering the Sun of our life is in its verticle point of its Declination the whole being but a span shortned by every days succession and that upon a moment dependeth Eternity Let us not be such Enemies to our selves to neglect so great an opportunity of a more permanent life but learn we to busie our thoughts upon that heavenly Decree of our Mortality and daily to live the life of Grace as every day expecting the Dissolution of the life of Nature that so when the ship of our life shall run upon the ground of our Grave we may purchase to our selves a new life which shall triumph over time in a Kingdom of Glory 50. Of Death Alexander Questioning Diogenes why he pored upon a pile of dead mens Bones Answered to find out his Father Philip's Skull if possible he could difference if from others A Reply as suitable as his research both enough to flag the Plumes and darken the splendour of the Young Gallants Glory for Objects of Mortality seriously contemplated are but dusty Characters wherein we may read our own nothingness rebate the swelling Humours of Honour Beauty and Valour seeing Death makes no difference between Persons and Qualities between Royal and Plebean Dust the Worms no difference between Nereus and Thersites Beauty and Deformity the Earth no difference between Noble and Ignoble Rich and Poor being all retaken into the Womb that bore them unless it be the Addition of a Golden Epitaph upon a Marble Cover-lid to Emblemize their past Greatness if not their Goodness whereas poor Irus goes more silently to his Bed of Earth than rich Croesus not burdened with such thick Clay Gaze we not then on these gilded Vanities which like Basilisks Wounds us to death let not our Passions Soveraignize over our Affections to make us neglect the fruition of our future felicity and consequently incur everlasting Misery but muse we our Souls upon our Death-day as our second Birth-day upon our Corruption as a new Generation to a new Life that so we may not forget our return home laden with the Rich Treasure of Heaven the Works of Faith Repentance and Obedience with which we must encounter yea Conquer both Death and our selves 51. Of Hell To omit the vain Disputes where Hell is and to pretermit the fabulous Fancies of the Poets concerning Hell that the burning Mountains of Vesuvius and Aetna are the Entrances to it and Pliny pressing too near to search the secrets of Vesuvius was stifled to Death Sure I am where Heaven is not there is Hell the certainty of it prepared for the Damned Devils and Reprobate Sinners the Word of God declares unto us Tophet is prepared of old the burning thereof is fire and much wood the breath of the Lord like a river of Brimstone doth kindle it It is that Gehenna wherein is continual weeping and knashing of Teeth that firy Gulf which never goes out where there is no Society but what will augment our Misery the Devil his Angels and Reprobate men where the Worm of Conscience is ever gnawing the fire of Gods wrath ever burning where all the Senses according to their several Properties are gulft in misery Those wanton Eyes which were ravish'd with every Beauty are afflicted with hideous Objects of gashly Ghosts Those Ears which once were nothing but spunges of Folly are now affrighted with the noise of howling Devils That dainty Nose wholly delighted with sweet Odours and rich Perfumes is stuft with the noysom stench of burning Sulphur That curious Palate which could relish nothing but what was far fetch'd and dear bought the richest of meats and drinks is miserably bitten with hunger and scorched with thirst The Understanding which would not know God and his Will is wrack'd with the knowledg of Eternal Torment The Will which ran like a Torrent into the Sea of Delights is there overwhelmed in the Ocean of Misery The Memory made to be the Key of Knowledg is grievously tortured with the remembrance of lost Felicity Thus every Sense Faculty and Member is everlastingly wracked tormented afflicted Known unto thee O God are all thy works which Praise thy Name yea Hell it self which thou madest for thy righteous Judgment doth shew forth the same As thou art God Almighty so thou art infinite in every place thou art in Hell by thy Judgments in Earth by thy Grace and in Heaven by thy Glory Hell speaks thy Justice Earth thy Mercy Heaven thy Goodness Thou art as well just in thy Goodness as good in thy Justice O then I pray thee that I may prevent thy Justice by my Goodness and that thy Justice may crown my Goodness which to obtain while I am in this middle Sphere between Hell and Heaven let the one I beseech thee in a holy fear fright me from sin which leads
for less as well as for bigger whatsoever is sin thou wilt mourn for because Gods Law is by it broken and so his Majesty is offended Secondly If thou grievest because God is offended then wilt thou grieve also for the sins of others as well as for thy own because God is dishonoured by the one as well as by the other Thirdly if thy sorrow be right it will be a Proportional Sorrow A Sorrow answerable to the sin as we see in Manasses his sin was great and his Contrition was great 2 Chron. 33.12 So in Peter his sorrow was great for denying his Master Mat. 26.75 Fourthly If thy Sorrow be Godly and is for sin as it is an offence against God thou wilt then be more desirous to be rid of sin than of any other cross whatsoever yea as heartily desirous never to commit it as thou art desirous that God would never impute it Now in the Second place this may serve for the Reproof yea for the terror of many who rest in a counterfeit and unsound Repentance For doth a true Penitent grieve more for Gods cause than for his own Is he more grieved for the offence against God than for any manner of respect unto himself Then surely such are far from true Repentance who were it not for fear or shame could be content to live in sin and tumble in it all their days And before â—â—ee That is in thy sight as afterwards Verse 21. This did add much unto his sorrow and did very much aggravate his fault Two Points are here to be observed The first is this That Gods Eye is on all mens Actions The second is this The forgetting of Gods All-seeing Eye in the committing of evil doth aggravate the sin and increase the same To come then to the Reasons First God is every where present he can be shut out of no place as man can or as the Sun can because he is infinite in Nature Do not I sill Heaven and Earth saith the Lord Am I a God at hand and not afar off And therefore it cannot otherwise be but he must needs behold our doings and our actions Psal 139.7 Acts 17.27 Secondly It is he that made the Eye and shall he not see It is he that made the Ear and shall he not hear He giveth knowledge and shall he not know Can any thing be hid from him from whom they have their being The work is known unto the worker the Art unto the Artificer the Pot unto the Potter And shall not the Creature be known unto the Creator Thirdly He it is that chastiseth the Nations as the Prophet speaks in the same Psalm Verse 10. shall not he correct He shall be the Judge every one shall be Judged by him according to his works Now albeit he shall not want Witnesses at that day yet it is fitting that himself should have knowledge of the Actions of all men seeing he will not reprove after the hearing of his Ears Isa 11.3 These Reasons shall suffice instead of many Now for the Uses Vse 1. And first this may serve for Terror to all such as live in sin what greater terror to a Thief than to have the Judge an Eye-witness of his Villany So what greater terror to the wicked than this to have the Lord behold their doings Oh think on these things you lurking Dans close Enemies of the Church whose sleep departs from you till you have caused some to fall The Lord seeth your Plots and cunning Devices your close Practises against his Church and People But he that sitteth in Heaven shall laugh you to scorn the Lord will have you in derision Take notice of this also you Adulterers and Whoremongers who say in your Hearts Who seeth us We are compassed about with darkness we need not fear Behold the Lord himself who shall be thy Judge he seeth thy Villany and looketh thee in the Face in the Act doing Vse 2. Secondly this serveth to set forth Gods wonderful Patience and long-suffering For is all sin in his Eye Then wonder at Gods forbearance who seeing so many and outragious sins daily committed yet for all that spares us Some are Swearing some Tipling some Cheating some Whoring when his Eye is on them All our Impurities Impieties he doth plainly behold yet he forbears and doth not strike Wonder at this wonder at it Oh you Sons of Men and let it teach you to Repent Vse 3. A Third Use may serve to stir us up and encourage us to well-doing what lazie Servant will not put forth his strength when his Masters Eye is on him So who is it were he well perswaded that the Lord is a spectator and beholder of his doings would not put forth his strength to the Lords work Were this well considered how couragious should we be both in the Duties of our general and special Callings The second Doctrine hence to be observed is this That the forgetting of Gods All-seeing Eye in the committing of evil doth aggravate the sin and increase the same The Reasons of this Point are these First we sin against the means that ought to keep us from sin and this doth aggravate the sin exceedingly and make sin out of measure sinful Secondly we rob God of his Honour and give not that unto him which is his right we would pluck out his Eyes that he should not see or at least judge him to be blind To think God seeth us not is a kind of Atheism for after a sort we deny him to be God And am no more worthy to be called thy Son See how he humbleth and abaseth himself even to the uttermost I am not worthy to be thy Son nay not worthy of the name of a Son make me but as an hired Servant and I shall think my self most happy Oh rare Humility yet greatly necessary because God is good to such But as for the Proud he beholds them afar off But to come to the Lesson and this it is Where there is true Repentance there is a sight and sense of a mans own unworthiness And it stands with good Reason for the Affections must needs follow the temperature of the Mind so that as the conceit of Holiness and Happiness doth puff up a Man in Pride and Presumption so the true sight and sense of his sinful and wretched estate must needs cast him down with shame and sorrow Let us then examine our Repentance by our Humility Hast thou truly Repented Then thou art truly Humbled and cast down with a sight and sense of thy sins and transgressions But in the second place I must fall from Exhorting to Lamenting for certainly there is but small store of true Repentance upon the Earth there is so little Humility among Men and Women Thirdly this may serve for Terror to all such who as yet have not this mean and base esteem of themselves Let all such know they are void of Grace I have Gods Word for my Warrant Behold saith the
Prophet his Soul which is lifted up is not upright within him All those that are void of Humility are far from uprightness The higher the Sun is the shorter is the shadow the more grace the less conceit The emptiest Vessel ever sounds loudest and the fuller the less Wood that in burning yields the greatest smoak doth commonly give the smallest heat Those boughs which are most laden with Fruit those ears which are fullest of Corn do ever bend downward when the barren bough and empty ear stands upright So those that are emptiest of Grace evermore make the greatest ostentation and crack most of their own goodness Make me as one of thy hired Servants As if he should have said I dare not I do not make suit to be as before I was a Son I am unworthy of such favour yet vouchsafe me that favour that I may belong unto thee and although I am not worthy to be called a Son yet vouchsafe me to be a hanger-on let me have a Room and Service in thy House though it be amongst the company of thy hired Servants Here we see the case is altered while he was in the House no place was good enough for him but now that he hath been a while in a far Countrey and wanted of that Bread which his Fathers Servants had he doth desire to be in the basest Office This teacheth us this Lesson Gods blessings are better known and more esteemed by the wanting of them than by their enjoying The worth and value of Gods good Blessings are not known till we be without them Thus Vision was precious in the days of Ely when that was wanting And the Prophet Esay telleth the People of Israel that the blessings of the Lord should be excellent and pleasant to them after they had been pinched with the want thereof in their Captivity yea the bud shall then be beautiful c. The Use of this in a word is to teach us to esteem more of the good Blessings we receive from God and beware of undervaluing them lest we give the Lord occasion to deprive us of them These common blessings of the shining of the Sun breathing in the Air Meat Drink preservation in our going out in our coming in use of the Senses strength of Body and the like let them be more esteemed of thee alas consider how miserable thou art without these The Lord is fain so great is his Mercy and our Corruption to deprive his Children of many of these good Blessings till they know the price and worth of them and in their restraint make them enjoy the smallest blessing more thankfully and comfortably Hunger is good sawce and giveth good relish and taste to course Meats and homely Fare when for want hereof dainty Dishes are but contemned Should the Lord deprive thee of thy Health Strength Sense Sleep then wouldst thou see what a benefit thou hast enjoyed Bewail therefore thy own corruption in this kind and pray for this Wisdom that thou mayst rather know the worth of Gods blessings by the enjoying than by the wanting of them And he arose and came to his Father c. This Prodigal now puts in Practice what formerly he had resolved to do As resolved to arise So he arofe In this his practise we must consider First what he did Secondly what he said For the first the Text saith He arose and came unto his Father Where we have first the parts of his Repentance which are two Aversion from his sin He arose Secondly Conversion to his God And came unto his Father Secondly We have to consider the circumstance of time when he did it which is implyed in this word And or So that is immediately he deferred no time but presently put in execution what was before but in purpose and resolution He arose and came to his Father His arising is nothing else but his leaving of sin as formerly we have heard and his coming to his Father is his turning to the Lord. So then here we have the parts of true Repentance laid down which are in number two first Aversion from sin Secondly Conversion to God He arose The point we may observe hence is this Where there is true Repentance there is a rising from sin there is a leaving and a forsaking of all former evil ways and courses This point might be confirmed by many Examples As of Paul Peter Zacheus with others who left their former courses and committed them no more The Vses follow First hereby try thy Repentance whether it be good or no Hath it wrought a change and alteration in thy Affections Words and Actions Are all old things done away and new come in the place thereof Is there a forsaking of sin a reformation of Life If it be thus then it is well for thus it is and must be with every true Penitent Secondly this may serve for terror to such as find no change in themselves but are the same still that ever they were of whom it cannot be said as of the Corinthians such were you but now you are changed But such are you and so still continue unchanged Adulterers you were Covetous you were Drunkards you were c. and so are still as Proud as ever as Profane as ever as Worldly as ever as irreligious as ever if not worse than ever In the Third place this may serve for the comfort of all such as do find this change in them who can say as that blind man who had his sight restored One thing I know that whereas I was blind now I see Whereas I was filthy and unclean I am now washed and cleansed Oh happy is the condition of such a one thrice blessed is thy Estate indeed only let me admonish thee that thou manifest this change unto the World that others may also say How is this man changed from what he was Ambrose makes Report of a Young Man who having a long time lived in Lust and Uncleanness at length Travelled and in his Travel was Converted Afterwards returning home meets with one of his old Acquaintance with whom he had been often naught but passed away and would not Salute her at which the Strumpet wondring speaks to him after this manner What have you forgotten me It is I His Reply unto her again was this yea I know it but I am not I. Thus it becomes thee to manifest this change thou findest to be in thee that as others have been Witnesses of thy sin so they may be also Witnesses of thy Repentance And came to his Father From hence we learn In true Repentance there is not only a rising from sin but also a turning to the Lord and a setting of our hearts towards him and his Kingdom The Reason is this As by Faith we are ingrafted into Christ Jesus and so made partakers of his Death and the power of it which causeth us to die unto sin So also by the same Faith we are made partakers of his Resurrection