That ye may approve things that are excellent Phil. 1. 10. But because you cannot see so well by a candle inclosed in a lanthorn as by a taper burning in the candlestick I shall crack the shell that you may tast the kernel There are two channels that I shall cut out for these Chrystal streams to run in First I shall speak to the Explication of what is Doctrinal Secondly To the Application of what is Practical The former is like the cutting out of the suit the latter is like the putting it upon the back First I shall speak to the Explication of what is Doctrinal And that I may not sluce in a sea of water into a little river I shall make a double banck First Why it is that the Disciples of Christ must do more then others Secondly What it is that the Disciples of Christ must do more then others I begin with the first why it is that the Disciples of Christ must do more then others Now that these nails may stick the faster I shall drive them home with an eight fold hammer 1. Because more is done for Beleevers then is done for others therefore more must be done by Beleivers then is done by others God gives favours not for their sakes that receive them but for his sake that bestows them Now where there is a superaddition to our priviledges there must be a superaddition to our practices You do not look for so much splendor from the burnings of a candle as from the beamings of the Sun Nor for so much moisture from the dropings of a bucket as from the disolving of a cloud The Philosophers rule is true Quicquid recipitur recipitur ad modum recipientis The heat which melts the wax hardens the clay The juyce that goes into the Rose makes it sweet but that which goes into the Nettle makes it stink The mercies of God if they be not loadstones to draw us to salvation they will be milstones to drown us in perdition To whom much is given of Quò plura accepisti gratias eò majores gloriamque daâ—ori referre obligaris Rous inter reg Dei p. 153. them much shall be required God doth not exact much where little is bestowed nor except little where much is received A drop of praises is not commensurate to a sea of favours Hear ye the word of the Lord O children of Israel you only have I known of all the families of the earth Amos 3. 2. They were more known to God then others therefore they must more acknowledge God then others They can never speak good enough of God who have tasted the goodness of God It s but reason that they should bless most who are the most blessed Nature hath made other Creatures but Grace hath made you Christians In Creation God hath given us to our selves but in Redemption he hath given himself to us It s a greater favor to be converted then it is to be created yea better have no being then not to have a new being Now differencing mercy calls for differencing duty They who hold the largest farms they should pay the greatest rents Where he sows the preciousest seeds there he looks for the fruitfulest harvest When we were full of blood then he was full of bowels When thou wert setting sail to the Devil God blew with a contrary wind and altered thy course Now will I sing to my beloved a song of my beloved touching his vineyard My wel-beloved had a vineyard in a very fruitful hill and he fenced it and gathered out the stones thereof and planted it with the choycest vine and built a tower in the midst of it and also made a wine press therein Isa 5. 1 2. Here is an Inventory of the goodness of God to his vineyard now what follows He looked that it should bring forth grapes and it brought forth wilde grapes He looked that they should be better to him then others because he had been better to them then he had been to others The flowers of Paradise are seated in a better soil then the weeds of the wilderness When others are the Devils throughfare these are Gods enclosure God hath kissed you that are believers over many shoulders You are like Dyals in the sun on which the beams of the sun of Righteousness do shine How is it that thou wilt shew thy self to us and not to the world who mightst have shewn thy self to the world and not to us Joh. 14. 22. He hath exalted you above others who are of the same mould with others Hath God shewn himself to you and not to the world and will not you shew your selves for God and not for the world It lies as a great blemish upon Hezekiah that his returning was not answerable to his receiving If God do great things for beleivers he will not accept of small things from believers 2. Christians they should do more then others because they stand in a nearer relation to God then others The nearer the relation the greater the obligation In this respect believers on earth have a greater honor then the Angels in heaven Christ is related to them as a Lord to his Servants but he is united to these as a head to the members There is no glased eyes that is set in our Redeemers head there is no wooden legs that are united to his body there is no barren branches that grows upon the Tree of Life The Lord Jesus is as far from being the head of a body that 's ulcerous as he is from being the head of a body that 's monstrous The everlasting Father Isa 9. 6. Others they are made of God but these are born of God A son honoreth his father and a servant his Master If then I be a father where is my honor if a master where is my fear Mal. 1. 6. As a Father so he will be reverenced for his goodness as a Master he will be feared for his greatness Give unto Caesar the things that are Caesars and unto God the things that are Gods If honor be not due to him let it not be bestowed if it be due to him let it not be denied We are all born to serve God and better we had never been born then that we should not serve him As A. Fulvius said to his Son when he found him in the conspiracy of Cataline Non ego te Catilinae genui sed patriae This is the speech of God to every man I gave thee not a body and a soul to serve sin withal but to serve me withal Do but see the great out-cry that God makes against his own sons Isa 1. 2 3. Hear O heavens and be astonished O earth for I have nourished and brought up children and they have rebelled against me Where the relation is nearest there the provocation is greatest It s a more pleasing spectacle to see Rebels becoming children then it s to see children becoming rebels When Caesar was wounded by the Senators
foul one God likes no such bargains Lord I am willing to serve thee but unwilling to suffer for thee I will go to sea but on condition I shall meet with no storms I will enter the war but on condition I shall have no blows They would fain be wafted to the point of felicity in such vessels as might not be tossed on the waters of calamity Such think much to borrow a thorn though it be taken from their Saviours Crown Some there are that will sacrifice a stout heart to a stubborn will And will rather dye as Martyrs for errors then bow as servants to truth How shall they ever stand for Christ who did never stand in Christ But beleevers study more how to adorn the cross then how to avoid the cross as deeming it better to be saved in rough waters then drowned in a calm ocean Temporary Professors are like Hedge-hogs that have two holes one to the North the other to the South when the South wind suns them they open to the North and when the North wind chills them they go to the South They will lose their activity to finde their security It was the saying of the King of Navar to Beza That he would in the cause of Christ sail no further then he might retreat safe to the shore Man is a life-loving creature he is afaid to follow truth too near at the heels lest it should lift up his foot and dash out his brains Weak grace will do for God but it must be strong grace that will dye for God A true Christians will lay down his lusts at the command of Christ and he will lay down his life for the cause of Christ The trees of righteousness the more they are shaken by the wind the faster they are rooted in the ground What art thou a member of Christ and yet afraid to be a Martyr for Christ Si beati sunt qui moriuntur in Domino quam beati sunt illi qui moriuntur pro Domino If they be blessed that die in the Lord how blessed are they that die for the Lord What though the flesh do return to dust so the spirit do return to rest what is the body of Adam for a soul to live in to the bosom of Abraham for a Saint to lye in Righteous Abel the first Soldier in the Church Militant was the first Saint in the Church Triumphant He offered up a Sacrifice when the Altar was sprinkled with his own blood But as his body was the first that ever took possession of earth so his soul was the first that ever had a translation to heaven Should such a man as I flie saith Nehemiah A man that hath been so much honoured and a man that hath been so much used It is better to dye a Conqueror then to live a Coward They who will be no less then combatants they shall be more then conquerors None are so couragious as those who are religious A Christian if he lives he knows by whose might he stands and if he dies he knows for whose sake he falls Where there is no confidence in God there will be no continuance with God When the wind ceases to fill the sails the ship ceases to plough the seas The taints of Ishmael shall never make an Isaac out of love with his inheritance If a righteous cause brings you into sufferings a righteous God will bring you out of sufferings Christ is beholden to his enemies as well as to his friends Their malicious opposition wrought out his glorious exaltation The worst that men can do against Beleevers is the best that men can do for Beleivers The worst that they can act against them is to send them out of earth and the best they can do for them is to send them up to heaven It was the expression of one of the Martyrs to his Persecutors You take a life from me that I cannot keep and bestow a life upon me that I cannot lose which is as if you should rob a man of counters and furnish him with gold He that is assured of a life that hath no end cares not how soon this life is at an end All this is come upon us yet have we not forgotten thee neither have we dealt falsely in thy covenant Our heart is not turned back neither have our steps declined from thy way Though thou hast sore broken us in the place of Dragons and covered us with the shadow of death Psal 44. 17 18 19. Beleevers are like the moon that wades out of her shadows by keeping her motion and leaves not her shining for the barking of dogs Shall we cease to be Professors because others will not cease to be Persecutors by the seed of the serpent the heel of the woman may be bruised but by the seed of the woman the Serpents head shall be broken Christians see you good times prepare for bad times there is no spring without its fall no Summer but hath its Winter he never reaped comfort in the night of adversity that did not sow it in the day of prosperity Many waters cannot queneh love neither can the floods drown it Cant. 8. 6. The fire of affection is not quenched by the water of affliction But if the trade of piety cannot be peaceably driven Formalists will shut up their shop-windows They will rather tarry out of the land of Canaan then swim to it through the red sea But a beleever never falls asleep for Jesus till he falls asleep in Jesus If it be thou bid me come to thee on the water Matth. 14. 18. Love can walk on the water without drowning and lie in the fire without burning It s said of the Serpent that he cares not to what danger he exposes his body so he secures his head Thus it is with a Christian he cares not to what hazard he exposes his substance so he may but enjoy his Saviour None of these things move me neither count I my life dear to my self so I may finish my course with joy Act. 20. 24. A Saint is inwardly pious when he is not outwardly prosperous The sharper such Physick is in its taking the sounder the Patient is for its working The higher the floods swell on earth the nearer the Ark mounts up to heaven God can strike strait strokes with crooked sticks and make the Devils dross to fetch off the rust that cleaves to his gold Christians are crucified by the world that they might be crucified to the world God makes it to be an enemy to you that he might make you an enmy to it Remember Christians that Religion is that Phoenix that hath always flourished in her own ashes Magistrates they defend the truth with their swords but Martyrs they defend the truth with their bloods And the losing of their heads makes way for the receiving of their crowns How should we land at the haven of rest if we vvere not tossed upon the seas of trouble If Joseph had not
sitteth on the right hand of God Col. 3. 1. The same pen writes fair or blots as his skill or rudeness is that handles it The same strings make a pleasant musick or a jarring discord as they are set and fingured So our affections according to their objects about which they are conversant become either like fiery chariots to carry us to perfection or like Pharoahs chariots to hurry us to perdition There is no need of blotting out these Characters but of writing of them in fair papers nor of drying up of these waters but of diverting them into their proper channels nor of plucking up of these plants but of setting them in a right soil Solum dispicit qui coelum aspicit He that looks upon heaven with desire will look upon earth with disdain Our affections were made for the things that are above us and not for the things that are a out us What is your earthly Manors to your heavenly Mansions As carnal things seem small to a man that is spiritual so spiritual things seem small to a man that is carnal Ignoti nulla cupido there are no movings after things beyond the sphear of our knowledge Heaven is to them as a mine of gold covered with earth and rubbish or as a bed of pearl inclosed in a heap of sand If they had the eyes of an eagl to see it they would wish for the wings of an eagle to flie unto it How little would the great world seem to us if the great God was not little in us Either men have no thoughts of a future state or else they have low thoughts of a future state If we had souls without any bodies then there would be no need of earth to keep us if we had bodies without any souls then there would be no need of heaven to crown us But such as have no present holiness are for a present happiness There be many that say Who will shew us any good Psal 4. 6. any good will serve the turns of those that know not the chiefest good But Lord lift thou up the light of thy countenance upon us O how sordid is it to prefer the garlick and onyons of Egypt before the milk and honey of Canaan Visible things to them is better then invisible They mind the world that is come so much as if it would never have an ending and the world to come so little as if it would never have a beginning Why should you be so taken with your riches that shall be taken from your riches or dote upon a flower which a day may wither They that are travelling beyond the world they shoulst be trading above the world but such are not easily awakened that fall so fast asleep on the worlds pillow But now they desire a better Country that is a Tunc ut fama est primum gustantes vinum ex â—taliâ delatum sic illius admiratione amentes facti sunt omnes ut collectis armis c. quaesicrint eam terram in quá hujusmodi fructus oriratur Plut. in vit Camil. heavenly Heb. 11. 16. The Gauls when they had tasted the sweet wine of Italy asked where the grapes grew and would never be quiet till they came there O that I had the wings of a Dove that I might fly above and be at rest A beleiver is willing to lose the world for the reception of grace and he is willing to leave the world for the fruition of glory As the worst on this side hell compared with that is mercy so the best on this side heaven compared with that is misery There is no more comparison to be made between heaven and earth then there is between a peice of rusty iron and a peice of refined gold St. Austin saith Spes vitae immortalis est vita vitae mortalis The hope of life immortal is the life of our lives mortal It s the expectation of their future heritage which is the Saints Jacobs staff to walk through this dark pilgrimage If in this life only we have hope in Christ we were of all men the most miserable but because we have hope in Christ after this life we may be of all men the most comfortable for in this we groan earnestly desiring to be cloathed upon with our house which is from heaven 2 Cor. 5. 2. A beleever longs to be there most of all where he shall be best of all He is not only one that grows in what is gracious but he is one that groans for what is glorious Perfection is the boundary of expectation as it likes no other so it looks no further every thing in Eternity is wound up to its highest capciaty Behold I see the heavens opened and the Son of man standing on the right hand of God Act. 7. 56. A beleiver can sweetly see with an eye that is purified what he shall shortly see with an eye that is glorified Here it is that mercy is received unmixed and majesty is viewed unvailed What 's a Pebble that is worthless to a Pearl that is matchless Enter thou into the joy of thy Lord O what joy enters into the beleever when he enters into the joy of his Redeemer The vessels of mercy shall then swim in the ocean of glory Come ye blessed of my father inherit the kingdom prepared for you before the foundation of the world Mat. 25. 34. That which makes hell so full of horror is that it s below all hopes That which makes heaven so full of splendor is that it s above all fears The one is a Ibi erit verè maximum Sabbatum non habens vesperem Aug. de civ deil 22. c. 30. night that shall never see any day appearing the other is a day that shall never have any night aproaching Who would not work for glory with the greatest diligence and wait for glory with the greatest patience seeing we advance the interest whilst we stay for the principal There are some deluded Professors that aspire after earthly scepters as if the place where Saints are to be crucified were the place where Sts. are to be glorified then certainly the Church here should rather be in a state triumphant then in a state militant In heaven the crown is made for them and in heaven the crown shall be worn by them St. Austin presents us with two parts of the Church Vna in tempore perigrinationis altera in aeternitate mansionis We are not speaking of that part which is established above temptations but of that part which is encompassed about with temptations and its hard finding of this ark without moving on a tumultuous deluge In my fathers house are many mansions I go to prepare a place for you Joh. 14. 2. Our Redeemer is our Forerunner he that takes possession of us on earth takes possession for us of heaven As they are not long here without him so he will not be long there without them Here all the earth is not enough
judgeth the earth Psal 58. ult There 's no work that is done in vaine but that work that is vainly done Wealth and riches shall be in his house and his righteousnesse indures for ever Psal 112. 2 3. Doe but you take care of all that belongs to God and God will take care of all that belongs to you For all other gaines whilst we live we lose them or when we dye we leave them to whom we know not but it may be to them we would not Inkeeping of thy Commandements there is great reward Psal 19. 11. There is not only a reward for keeping of them but there 's a reward in keeping of them In other services the Master hath all the profit and the servant none but in this the servant hath all the profit and the Master none 2 Sam. 6. 11. And the Arke of the Lord continued in the house of Obed-Edom the Gittite for three months and the Lord blessed Obed-Edom and all his houshold The Ark was not blessed for the sake of the houshold but the houshould was blessed for the sake of the Arke The Arke of God payes for its entertainment wheresoever it comes We say that those have decayed limbes that must be helped on with crutches Such are they that will side with resigion when they may live upon it but will shrink from Religion when it must live upon them But that maxime is still ture that Godliness with contentment is great gain 1 Tim. 6. 6. It 's only the Christian man that is the contented man and what is our enjoyments without contentment what 's abundance of possessions if linked to abundance of vexations Wicked men make this world their treasure and God makes this Fiunt instrumenta paenarum quae scilicet divitiae fuerant oblectament◠culparum Innocent world their torment When they want estates they are troubled for them when they have estates they are troubled with them when they should drink of the river God disturbs the water Sinner remember when thou diest thou wilt find godlinesse needfull and whilst thou livest thou wilt find godlinesse gainfull The purest honey is ever gathered out of the hive of holiness O that my people had hearkened unto me and Israel had walked in my wayes Psal 81. 13. But what had they got by it vers 16. He should have fed them also with the finest of the wheat and with honey out of the rock should I have satisfied thee The wayes of iniquity are the wayes of beggery It 's but equal that God should fall out with them in the course of his providence that falls off from him in the course of their obedience that they should have nothing from him in a way of bounty that will doe nothing for him in a way of duty If you make your Tabernacles leprous God will make your Tabernacles ruinous Length of dayes is in her right hand and in her left hand riches and honour Prov. 3. 16. Look to which hand you will and yet you shall find that both are full It 's storied of Synesius a Minister that living near Evagrius a philosopher This story you may read larger just after Mr. Baxter's Preface to his book called the Crucifying of the world and had often perswaded him to be a Christian O but saith the Philosopher if I become a christian either I must lose all for Christ or else I may lose all for Christ to whom the Minister replyed what you lose for him he will pay you againe O but saith the philosopher will you be bound for Christ that if he do not pay me you will Yes saith he and so became a surety for his surety and the philosopher became a Christian When this person came to lye upon his dying pillow he sent for this Minister saying here 's your bond Christ hath paid me all he hath left nothing for you to pay It was a vaine conceite of that potentate who refusing the name of Pius would be called Faelix Inward piety is the best friend to outward felicity though outward felicity be many times the worst enemy to inward piety That 's the tenth The eleventh Principle that you should walk by is this That all the time that God allows us is little enough to fulfill the task that he allots us Man that is borne of a woman is few of dayes and full of troubles Job 14. 1. The creatures life and existence is of a very short and small continuance Natures womb somtimes proves natures tombe and swallows up her own Vitae hujus principium mortis exordium est nec priùs incipit augeri aetas nostra quam minui Prosp de vocat Gen. lib. 2. c. 20 issue With many it's ebb water before the tide be at the full the lamp of their lives is wasted even as soon as it is lighted the sands of their hour-glasse are quite run out when they think it is but newly turned When men feele sicknesse arresting then they feare deaths approaching But we begin our dying as soon as ever we begin our living and how much the longer our time hath been so much the shorter our time shall be Every mans passing-bell hangs in his own steeple Take him in his four elements of Earth and Aire Fire and Water In the Earth he is like dust that 's scattering in the Aire he is like a vapour that 's vanishing in the water he is like a bubble that 's breaking in the Fire he is like smoak that 's consuming Seneca said truly Maximum vivendi Sen. de brevit vitae cap. 9. impedimentum est expectatio quae pendet in crastino the greatest hinderance of well living is the expectation of long life Therefore men so little prepare for death because they so little think on death they think not of living any better till they think not of living any longer Did you but walke by this principle though much of your time be past yet would no more of your time be lost you would this moment make sure of God because the next moment you are not sure of your selves One to-day is worth two to-morrows you know not how soone the sails of your lives may be rowled up or how nigh you are to your eternall haven O ply your Oares dilligently lest the vessell doe miscarry everlastingly What will you doe if you begin to dye naturally before you begin to live spiritually if the Tabernacle of nature be taken down before the Temple of grace be raised up if your paradise be laid wast before the Tree of life be set in it if you give up the Ghost before ever you have received the Holy Ghost if the Sun of your lives set within you before the Sun of righteousness shine upon you if the body be sit to be turned into the earth before the soul be fit to be taken into Heaven If the second birth have no place in you the second Death shall have a power over you One excellently compares
our life to a day Infancy is as it were the day breake youth is the Sun rising full growth is as the Sun in it's Meridian and old age is as the Sun setting by the light of the day let us doe the worke of the day O that thou hadst known in this thy day the things that doe belong to thy peace but now they are hid from thine eyes Luk. 19. 42. The dews of grace is falling whilst the day of grace is dawning O how just is it that they should misse of heaven at the last that never seek for Heaven till the last That God should deny them his grace to repent that abuse his grace to sin It 's a Maxime Omne principiatum sequitur naturam principiorum every thing hath an aptitude of returning into the Principle of its beginning as the Rivers that have their eflux from the Sea have their reflux to the Sea Out of the dust man was formed and therefore into the dust man is turned Sirs How much of your lives is gone and yet how little of your works are done You tender plants will you spend your youthfull lives in following of your youthfull lusts will you hang the most sparkling Jewells of your yeares as pendents in the Devils ears The Aegyptians sold their funerall balms in the Temple of Venus to shew that where they prayed for their nativity they might not forget their mortallity O you fresh pictures will you not be hung in Heavens gallery do you not know that the blossome is as subject to nipping as the flower to withering and the spark to extinguishing as the flame to expiring Veins brimmed full with blood may be emptied by an accident as soon as those that are leakish with old age As there 's none too old for eternity so there 's none too young for mortallity In Golgotha there are sculls of all sizes You are but green enough for reformation that are gray enough for dissolution tell me how wilt thou live when thou diest that art dead whilst thou livest every step that your bodies take it 's towards the earth O that euery step your souls take might be towards Heaven We sin as well in not doing the good commanded as in doing the evil prohibited The Vine that bringeth forth no Grapes shall be cut down as well as the Vine that bringeth forth wild Grapes There 's no countermining against the death of the body without us but by undermining of the body of death within us O how sad is it to be taken out of the world before we are taken off from the world To day if you will hear his voice harden not your hearts Heb. 3. 7. We have but a day wherein we are called to repent and therefore should repent whilest it is called to day None sings so sweetly as the Turtle upon the Churches Walls and all that he may even constram sinners unto himself He is the deafest Adder that stops his ears to the voice of the sweetest Charmer The Lord hath made a promise to late repentance but he hath not made a promise of late repentance If the Tap be not now thawed it may be for ever frozen A pardon is sometimes given to a Thief on the Gallows but he that Quòspectas quò te extendu Omnia quae ventura sunt in incertojacent Seneca ubi prius trusts to that sometimes hath a Rope for his wages Boast not of to morrow for thou knowest not what a day may bring forth Prov. 27. Man is such a pur-blind creature that he cannot unerringly see a day before him O see the ending of one day before thou gloriest in the beginning of another Many a mans dayes deceives him they passe away like a shadow by Moon-shine that then appears longest when it s nearest to an end Thou mayest not have halfe a day to live Dum floret aetas dum viget animus operemur bonum cùm enim vita ista transierit auferetur tempus operandi Arbor in cap. 6. ad Gal. ver 10. who thinks thou hast not lived out halfe thy dayes up and be doing least you be for ever undone The night cometh wherein no man can work The Grave is a Bed to rest in but not a Shop to trade in There 's no setting up under ground for those that have lost their time above ground When the soul in death takes its flight from its loving maite they shall meet no more till the general Assises 2 Cor. 6. 2. Behold now is the acceptable Vide Gor. Arboreum in loc time behold now is the day of salvation Now is the time for grace to accept of you and now is the time for you to accept of grace Opportunities they are for eternity but opportunities they are not to eternity Mercies Clock doth not strike at the sinners beck Where the means of grace is greatest there the day of grace is shortest Thou mayest be unhappy all thy dayes for the neglect of this dayes happinesse It was the sad cry of one My life is done but my work is undone O that you would imploy the small remnant you have of opportunity for the obtaining of the whole peece of felicity Make Hay whilest the Sun is shining and hoyse up Sails whilest the wind is serving Let this be thy living day the next may be thy dying day Seek the Lord whilest he may be found call upon him whilest he is near Isa 55. 6. Sirs The sufferings of eternal death are but the Issue of the slightings of eternal life Methinks the worth of such Pearls of price should sparkle in your eyes Will you let such a Sun set on earth by the beams of which you should walke to Heaven No disease is more fatal then that which doth reject Cordials What asad thing is it that such rich Mines should be opened and not a penny of this treasure fall to your share Some are gone so far in the way of sinning that there 's small hopes of their returning How much time did God bestow upon you before ever you returned any of that time to him It 's good to have an Ark prepared before a Deluge come in which you may be overwhelmed Man must do what he can and leave God to do what he will Though you cannot create the breath of the Spirit yet hang out your Sails to entertain it Though you cannot make the Pool of Bethesda healing yet lye at its mouth and wait for its stirring The longer a building goes to ruin the more cost it requires for reparation Remember that God can as easily turn you into the dust as he could take you out of the dust Delayes are numerous O but delayes are dangerous Who will look for water from a drained River Or that wealthy Grapes should grow upon a withered Vine For a man to make his best work to be his last work what 's this but as if an Husbandman should be putting in of his Plough for the sowing of his
wisdome as they did of that Graecian Lady No man ever loved her that never saw her and no man ever saw her that never loved her We do not first come to God that we may be taught but we are first taught that we may come to God A Christian that is most intelligent is a Christian that is most excellent Wisdom makes the face to shine Eccl. 8. 1. What the Papists cry up as the Mother of Devotion we cry down as the Father of Superstition Satan that cruel Jaylor secures all his Captives in the dark Dungeons of Ignorance He deals with them as Faulkners do with their Hawks that put Diabolus coecâ cupiditate et falsis consiliis ita peccatorem excaecavit ut quietissimè cum suis compedibus ligatus stet necse ullo prorsus in periculo constitutum putet Stapl in Dom Quinque Tex 5. Hoods upon their heads that they may carry them more quietly upon their hands Having the understanding darkned being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them because of the blindness of their hearts Eph 4. 18. The Father of light takes no pleasure in the children of darknesse he doth not use to waft souls to Heaven like passengers in a Ship who are shut under the Hatches and see nothing all the way they are sailing to their Port If thou knewest the gift of God and who it is that asks thou wouldst have askt of him and he would have given thee living water John 4. 10. Christ doth therefore goe undesired in the world because he goes undiscerned by the world Did they see all in this Pearl of price they would sell all for this Pearl of price An ignorant man he is Satans treasury for corruption and he is Gods Armory for indignation An understanding without understanding it 's but the soul of a beast imprisoned in the body of a man If ye know these things happy are ye if you doe them The will of God must be known on earth as it is known in Heaven or else the will of God will never be done on earth as it 's done in Heaven Utter darkness is the just recompence of inner darkness It 's storied of a deformed person that he set curious pictures before his wife that seeing of them she might have beautiful children And Labans sheep by looking on the Rods which were laid in the Troughes their Lambs which they produced were party coloured Shall fancy work so strongly in them and shall not faith work as strongly in us O walk in the face of the Sun of righteousnesse and you will be coloured by the shinings of his beams The patient Christian is the best for waiting but the prudent Christian is best for working Where there is a vail cast before the eys of knowledg there is a bar set before the hands of practice An ignorant person neither knows what he is doing nor doth he know whither he is going The dark corners of the earth are full of the inhabitants of cruelty Psal 74. 20. The Prince of darkness sits upon a Throne of darkness now God hath no birth-rights for such prophane Esaues Though the earth may keep an ignorant man living yet Heaven will not take an ignorant man dying as no man can shun the evil he fears not so no man can imbrace the good he knows not A man may as soon draw running streams from burning flames as he can tast a drop of mercy from irreconciled Majesty Where ever there is a trade driven for Heaven the Spirit of Christ doth first open the Shop windows I must work the works of him that sent me whilest it is day the night cometh wherein no man can work John 9. 4. Est quidem maxima faelicitas a Christo cognosci sed est maâ—ima necessitas ut nos quoque ChristuÌ„ cognoscamus Idem in Dom 2. postpaschâ— Tex 5. You cannot do the work of the day unlesse you have the light of the day A dim eye may be serviceable for the prevention of falls but a blind eye exposes to continual hazards Darkness as it is Satans Element so it is a sinners punishment My people perish for want of knowledge Hosea 4. 6. Men in the mist of ignorance are like Ships that sail desperately against those Rocks that splits them eternally He shall come in flaming fire taking vengance on them that know not God and obey not the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ 2 Thess 1. 8. Your want of judgement is a sin against which Christ will come to judgement You that here take no knowledge of him he will there take no knowledge of you When the Candle of the soul is put out needs must it sit in the dark Reason though it be the noblest Tree in natures garden yet since the fall it hath rotten fruits upon its boughs It will not receive the Gold of the Sanctuary unlesse it be weighed in its own Scales as if the guilt of blind obedience did lye upon them who have the Sun of righteousnesse to go before them Ah how do Owl-eyed sinners take that for Devotion which is but Superstition and that for a Bethel which is but a Babel The weaker light we have of truth the more easily may we be cheated with error in the stead of truth To keep the understanding free Quanquam multa sint peccata fragilitatis multa malitiae tamen verissimuÌ„ est ignorantiaÌ„ omnium malorum et flagitiorum esse fundamentum et principium Stella in Luc. cap. 15. vers 12. from ignorance is the way to keep it free from error To preserve it as a Goshen from the darknesse of Aegypt is the way to rid it of the Frogs and Locusts of Aegypt An arrogant mans will is not more rebellious then an ignorant mans wit is erronious He that desires to see the face of holinesse in its native lustre must not let his carnal judgement draw its picture To open their eyes and to turn them from darkness to light and from the power of Satan unto God that they may receive forgiveness of sins and inheritance amongst them that are sanctified by faith in me Acts 26. 18. The strength of the Sun-beams can scatter the darkest Clouds as well as consume the thinest Vapors In nature there 's some sparkles of light but so rak't under the ashes of disolute thoughts and practises that though it be not quite smother'd yet it 's scarce discerned The notions of God implanted in innocency do not shine in their genuine and primogenial radiancy Therefore Nebuchadnezzar is turned a grazing to the beasts of the field that he might come to the acknowledging of the God of the world It 's reported of a famous Carver who making a curious picture of Minerva did secretly ingrave his own upon it So the Lord of Heaven hath inter-woven his owne Image in us which remains as a mark whereby we may be known to be his workmanship and although the glorious lineaments
of his draught are much defac't yet there are such reliques and remainders left behind that as in fullyed Maps we may guesse at former lines Spiritual acts they require spiritual eyes and the brighter we see them the better we do them We cannot come to God with fiducial or justifying faith before we have attained a historical or dogmatical faith What the Papists say of Images we may justly say of the creatures that they are Lay-mens books in which there 's no Errata's The Heavens declares the glory of God and the Firmament sheweth his handy work Psal 19. 1. They who could not unclapse the book of Scripture have laid before them the volume of nature The invisible things of God from the creation of the world are clearly seen being understood by the things that are made Rom. 1. 20. From the second causes we may easily arrive at the first as you may pursue a River as it runs to the Fountains head from which it flows If we should see a Ship upon the Sea sailing directly to the Harbor we might conclude a Pilot in her to steer her course They have but a narrow inspection into the works of nature that cannot in them discover the God of nature which is Commentum Dei mirabile as Lactantius calls it That 's the first 2. If you would do more then others you must love more then others The love of Christ constrains us 2 Cor. 5. 14. There 's no sin so sweet but the love of Christ restrains them from it there 's no service so great but the love of Christ constrains them to it If once this affection takes fire the room becomes too hot for any sin to stay in The heart is a chamber for Christ but not a harbour for lust The Mandrakes give a smell and at our Gates are all manner of pleasant fruits new and old which I have laid up for thee O my beloved Cant. 7. 13. Love never shakes the Boughs but for Christ to eat the fruits Many pay the performance of duties as oppressed Subjects doe heavy taxes with sad complaints But the Spouse of Christ Amor onus non sentit labores non reputat plus affectat quâ valet Kempis looks upon what she is as not great enough for his remembrance and what she does as not good enough for his acceptance had she any thing a thousand times better then her self or were her self a thousand times better it should be bestowed upon him What is that little that he desires to that much that he deserves When Achilles was demanded what enterprizes he found the most easie he answered Those which he undertook for his friends Seaven years service seemed nothing to Jacob because of the love he did bear to Rachel Omnia facilia habenti charitatem saith Austin Love as it acts the most excellently so it acts the most easily If you love me keep my commandements John 14. 15. The Christal streams of divine actions they bubble from the pure spring of divine affection I have heard of a wife that grudged obedience to her husband because she thought him unworthy to receive it to whom it was answered Though he that married her was unworthy of her observance yet he that made her was worthy of her obedience and whatsoever she had to say against her husband she had nothing to say against the command of God In Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth any thing nor uncircumsion but faith which worketh by love Gal. 5. 6. The Christians love advances by equal paces with the Christians faith as the heat of the day with the shining of the Sun Faith like Mary sits at the feet of Christ to hear his Sermons and love like Martha compasses him about with services Faith is the great receiver and love is the great disburser We take in all by beleeving and we lay out all by loving Faith it first works love and then it works by love as the workman sets an edge upon his tooles and then carves and cuts with them The Scripture hath exceeding high expressions of this affection Nihil dulcius est amore nihil fortius nihil jucundius nec melius in Caelo et in terrâ quia natus est ex Dâ—o c. Id lib. 3 cap. 5. de Imit Christi Christ he brings the ten Commandements into two Commandements Matth. 22. 37 38. Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul and with all thy mind this is the first and great Commandement and the second is like unto it thou shalt love thy neighbour as thy self Christ he brings ten words into two words but Paul he folds them all up in one word For all the law is fulfilled in one word Gal. 5. 14. What 's that surely it is too big for any mouth to utter Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thy self He that is not wanting in this duty is wanting in no duty Love it s called an old Commandement and a new Commandement 1 John 2. 7 8. It 's as old as the Law of Moses and yet as new as the Gospel of Jesus Christ Faith is the grace that at first seals the conveyance and love is the grace that at last possesses the inheritance Faith that unites Christ and sanctified souls together on earth but love that unites God and glorified souls together in Heaven As the spleen groweth the body decayeth and as hatred increaseth so holinesse abateth Die aliquid ut duo simus was the Motto of a Heathen and therefore doth not belong to a Christian It 's best that dissention should never be born among brethren and next that it should dye presently after it's birth When any leak springs in the ship of Christian society we should use our indeavours to stop it speedily The nearer the union is the more dangerous is the breach Bodies that are glewed together may if severed be set together as beautifully as ever but members rent and torne cannot be healed without a scar The love in a hypocrites bosome is just like the fire in the Israelites bush which was not burning all the while it was blazing His estate and relations hath the top and strength of his affections they admit the world not only into the Suburbs of their sences but into the City of their souls But the love of a Saviour in the soul of a beleever is as Oyl put into a Vial with water in which though both be never so much shaken together the oyl will be uppermost Or if you please as one rising Sun which drowns the light of numberless Starres Should God give his substance to him and yet keep himself from him Absalom's expression would be his What doth all avail me so long as I see not the Kings face Take a Christian and his Heaven upon earth is in Gods dwelling with him yea and his Heaven in Heaven is in his dwelling with God He is like a stone of which some report that if it
be thrown into the water whole it swims if broke it sinks Or like the Mary-gold that opens with the shining and shuts with the setting of the Sun of righteousnesse Love it puts not off its pursuits of Certe amor Dei tam efficax est ut effectus potius quam affectus dici debeat plus enim facit quam afficit Stapl in Dom. Pen. Tex 1. duty till it attains the possessions of glory There 's no rocking this child to sleep till it be laid in the Cradle of the Grave A soul that loves much is a soul that works much The commands of the Gospel are not grievous to them but precious to them The highest graces are fit for the hardest duties As God is not so much displeased at our having of sin as he is displeased at our loving of sin so he is not so well pleased at our doing of service as at our loving of service Different movings express different beings When a Christian yields obedience to Christ out of a principle of love he so serves Christ as none but a Saint can serve Christ When thou saidst seek ye my face my heart answered thy face I will seeke Psal 27. 8. The heart of obedience is the obedience of the heart That 's the second 3. Would you do more then others then pray more then others Our daily bread calls for daily prayers because new wants are created when old wants are supplyed The Garden of the Church is watred by the River of Prayer Are you called by the name of Christ and will you not call upon the name of Christ Take away spiritual breathing and you take away spirituall living a child that 's still born was never a childe that 's new borne Who would not stretch forth a Beggars hand to receive a Jewel of greater vallew then the world With what boldnesse may they appear at the Court that are assured of the ear of the King We shall soon give up the Ghost if God doe not give in the Holy Ghost to stop our breath is the way to loose our life You may pray alwayes and yet not allwayes be at prayer Thou allowest thy body daily sustentation O allow thy soule daily supplication Prayer it s like Noahs Dove though it goe forth of the Arke yet it will return againe with an Olive-branch of peace in its mouth In Gods injoyning our supplications there 's the shewing forth of his greatnesse in Gods fulfilling our supplications there 's the shining forth of his goodnesse Prayer never did man rightly make it but God did quickly grant it It 's no more a duty for Saints on earth to give over praying then it is a duty for Saints in Heaven to give over praising If you would speed in the injoying of mercy you must speak for the obtaining of mercy If man lets God goe without any begging God will let man goe without any blessing I am sadly sensible how many there are that cast off this duty But it is not because the lameness of their leggs is cured but because they are ashamed to make use of crutches Christians let not your want of accomplishments create in you any discouragements Dumbe beggars have got almes at Christs gates by making of signes The waters of life are sweet O what pity it is that God should turne the cock for want of pails to set under Take a dry spunge and throw it into the river and it will suck it self full of water As he prayed the forme of his countenance Christus cum oraret transfigurabatur ita in oratione magnae fiunt in anima mutationes quia lumen animae est oratio quae saepiuâ— eum quem invenit desperantem relinquit exultanter Ger. med 25. was altered and his rayment was white and glistering Luk. 9. 28 29. Christ had the brightest Sunshine of his fathers affection when he was moving in the Orbe of supplication Tell me Sirs is not that mercy worth the breath of a sinner which was worth the blood of a Saviour then to pray we can do no more to the removing of our own miseries and we can do no less for the obtaining of Gods mercies methinks man should never cease asking till God cease granting Lord what wilt thou give me seeing I goe childless So say you Lord what wilt thou give me seeing I goe gracelesse Prayer is the souls trading to Heaven Oratio justi clavis est caeli ascendit precatio et descendit Dei liberatio Id ibid. for such commodities as are only locked up in Gods Treasuries By fasting the body learns to obey the soul but by praying the soule learns to command the body Dumbness should never seize on the lips of man till deafnesse seize on the ears of God Shall God in Heaven want a man that is praying whilst man on earth wants not a God that is hearing Christians though your relations are excellent yet your conditions are indigent No Christian hath so little of Christ but he hath matter for praise and no Christian hath so much from Christ but he hath matter of prayer every day we find it a great worke to accomplish a little work every new act of obedience calls for new strength and assistance as our receits are greater then our desarts so our wants are larger then our receits Ask and ye shall receive that your joy may be full Spirituall supplication is the channell of spirituall consolation you must be full of prayers if you would be full of joyes now none are more fruitfull in divine labour then those who are most joyfull in divine favour Death that shortens our way on earth and makes it nearer but delight that sweetens our way to heaven and makes it fairer The neglect of the flowers will but administer advantage unto the growth of the weeds a little Ship with a strong wind moves faster then a greater Vessell with slacker gailes I never expect that a branch which receives no sap from the Vine should beare any fruit in the Vine Si ascendat oratio descendet gratia when prayer mounts upon the wing to God then favours come upon the spur to Non verbe de precantis deus intendit sed orantis cor aspicit Bern. de inter domo cap. 48. man The gift of prayer may have praise from men but it is the grace of prayer that hath power with God a few grapes prove the plant to be a Vine and not a thorne Prayer is Gods due as a Creator though truly performed to him as a Father None can pray aright but those that are new Creatures but all ought to pray because they are creatures Christians can never want a praying time if they do not want a praying frame in the morning this is a golden key to open the heart for servise and in the evening it is an iron lock to shut the heart from sin As the raine comes down from Heaven fruitfully so let prayer go up to Heaven fervently Peter
them of Venite benedicti fragmen panis samelico dedistis en mensam paratissimam venit aeternum â—â—ulaturi peregrinos tecto non exclusistis angelorum civis ves esse jâ—bâ—o c. Drex Libro jam citato p. 68. his right hand Come ye blessed of my Father inherite the Kingdome prepared for you from the foundation of the world for I was an hungry and you gave me meat I was thirsty and ye gave me drink c. Mercy is the Queen of beauty that is espoused to the King of glory Charity though it make Vix ulla virtus majorem intota scriptura mercedem repromissam habet quam eleemosyna Stap. prom mor. par aest p. 62. your coyne lighter yet it will make your crown greater he that would have his name registred in the book of eternity let him write it himself with the pen of charity I know no better way to preserve your dough then by parting with your cake Methinks full brests should milk themselves without drawning and larg springs should issue forth their waters without pumping Your charity should seek the poor before the poor seek your charity Put on as the elect of Gods bowels of mercy Colos 3. 12. he that hath put off the bowels of compassion he hath put of the badge of election others can love at their tongues end but you should love at your fingers end If a man be naked they can bid him be cloathed if a man be empty they can bid him be filled as if poor Christians were like Camelians that could live upon the air liberality doth not lye in good words but it lyes in good works The doubtful are to be resolved by our counsels but the needful are to be releived with onr morsells methinks its exceeding lovely to see the pictures of purity though they be hung in the frames of poverty If you be coveteous of any thing let it be of this rather to lay out on necessity then to lay up for posterity Charity is seed and Stapl. ubi priùs Sicunt semen surgit cum multo faenore sie eleemosyna cum multa mercede the Husbandman doth not grow rich by the saving of his seed but by the sowing of his seed Secondly A Servant to Dâ—scendiâ—e ut ascendatis ad Deum â—ccidistis enim ascendendo contra eum Aug. conf l. 4. cap. 12. all in humility our first fall was by rising but our best rise is by falling The acknowledgment of our own impotence is the onely stock for the ingrafting of divine asistance An humble Saint on earth looks likest to a Citizen of heaven and whosoever will be chief among you let him be your servant Matth. 20. 27. That is the most lovely professor who is the most lowly professor as incense smells the sweetest when its beaten smallest Pride in the soul is like the spleen in the body that growes most when other parts decay God will not suffer such a weed to grow in his garden without taking some course to root it up A beleiver is like a vessel cast into the Sea the more it fills the more it sincks Pride goes before destruction and a haughty spirit before a fall Prov. 16. 18. The flowing river quickly turns to an ebbing water It s not all the world that can pull a humble man down because God will exalt him nor is it all the world that can keep a proud man up because God will debase him Do but see how one of the best of Verae humlitasis â—oâ— proprium est ut quo quis caeloteste sanctior eo se judice villor censeatur Drex Châ—istian Zod. p. 74. Saints looks upon himself as one of the least of Saints For I am the least of the Apostles not worthy to be called an Apostle 1 Cor. 15. 9. In the highest heavens the beams of Majesty are displaied but to the lowest hearts the bowels of mercy are dispenced Be ye cloathed with humility Pride is a sinners excrement but humility is a Saints ornament The cloth of humility should always be worn on the back of Christianity God doth many times stick a thorne in the flesh to prick the bladder of pride in the spirit Missa fuit Interdum subâ—rahitur gratia non pro superbiá quae jam est sed quae futura est nisi subtrahatur Bron. in cant Ier. 54. miseria ut dimissa fiat creatura The first Adam was for self-advancement but the second is for self-debasement the former was to have self deified the latter was to have self crucified Though there may be some thing left by self denial yet there is nothing lost by self denial nay a man can never enjoy himself till he deny himself We live by dying to our selves and die by living in our selves There is no proud man but he is foolish and almost no foolish man but he is proud It s the owle of ignorance that broods and hatches the Peacock of pride God abhors them worst that adore themselves most Pride it s not a Bethel for Gods dwelling but a Babel of the devils building It is not only a thing that is sinful but it is a thing that is seminal All other Rarum aiunt esse generosum pharmacum cui non insit veneni aliquid nullum certe vitium est in quo non aliquid superbiae Drex châ—ist Zod. p. 71. lusts as they are found lodging in it so they are found flowing from it Wherefore he saith God resisteth the proud 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he setteth himself in battel array against them Instructa acie atque Fontes flumina non per acclivia decurrunt nec monâ—es petunt sed per declivia valles labuntur Stapl. in Dom. 10. â—ost Pent. veluti ex adverso praelio obsistit Lorinus but he gives grace to the humble Jam. 4. 6. Specialiter propter majorem sui exinanitionem Gor. in loc Where humility is the corner stone there piety is as the top stone It s good to have true thoughts of our selves but bad to have high thoughts of our selves Though all men forsake thee yet will not I. Poor Peter he was the most impotent when he was the most arogant He that thought to stand whilst others were falling he fell whilst others were standing It was an excellent saying of one Where grace sits below me I Humilitas virtus est ut in se praestantissima ita deo gratissima Sâ—aâ— in Dom. 10. post Pent. will acknowledge its dignity but where vice crawls above me I will abhor its vanity An humble heart may meet with opposition from man but it shall meet with acceptation from God That is the seventh 8. Singular thing is this To mourn most for those lusts before God that appear least before men Others they cannot mourn in secret for their publick sins but we should mourn in publick for our secret sins That must be gained by repentance that hath been lost by disobedience Outward acts
mud-wall rise and swell because the beames of a beautiful sun shine upon it Gold in your bags may make you greater but its grace in your brests that will make you better Goodness without greatness shall be esteemed when greatness without goodness shall be confounded Proud sinners are fit companions for none but proud devils The more prosperity man enjoys the more humility God enjoyns Nature teaches us that those trees bend the most freely which bear the most fully A proud heart as it loves none but it self so it is beloved by none but by it self Consider in adversity as thou art a man thou art no less then him that is greatest and in prosperity as thou art a man thou art no more then him that is meanest Who would climb those pinacles that never any went up without They are like the inhâ—bitants of Asia who as Agesilaus affirmes si libertate fruerentur mali si servirent boni essent Plut. Apoth sec 84. fears or got down without falls Carnal persons they are never good but when they are under the rod and then not because God is displeased with their disilements but because they are overawed by his judgments It s written of Timotheus the Athenian when he had given an account to the State of his Government he often interlaced this speech In this Fortune had no hand After which he never prospered in any thing which he attempted When men disown God and cast off him God disowns men and casts off men It s storied of Philip of Macedon that after an unexpected victory he looked very sadly more like a mourner then like a triumpher He knew that what was got by the sword was subject to be lost by the sword God will not indure that any man should think well of himself but himself and when they are glorying in all their pride he is staining the pride of all their glory It is hard for any to be great in others eyes and little in their own Most Christians they are like Chamelions that when they take in the air they presently swell As that is a naughty heart which the world can soil so that is an empty heart that the world can fill Prosperous winds soon fill the sails but blowing too strongly overturn the ship Give me that brave person that in the midst of all his honours is rather pressed down with the weight of them then puffed up with the blasts of them You see your calling brethren how that not many wise men after the flesh not many mighty not many We may say of such as Luther said of Elizabeth Q. of Denmark a pious Princess Christus aliquando voluit Reginam incaelum vebere noble are called 1 Cor. 1. 26. You Nobles I call you to see how few Nobles are called He doth not say not any such are called but he saith Not many such are called A rich man is a rare dish at Gods table It s observed by those that are experienced in the sport of angling that the little fishes bite more then the great ones Oh how few great fish do we finde so much as nibling at the Gospels book When King James's Tutor lay upon his expiring pillow his Majesty sent to see how he did Go saith he and tell him that I am a going to a place where few Kings are coming Under the Law the Lamb and the Dove were offered when the Lion and the Eagle were rejected In Heraldry they say that the plainest coats are the richest arms Usually the poorest on earth are the richest in heaven The tree of life is seldom planted in a terrestrial Paradise The shining diamond of a great estate is often found upon the stinking dunghil of a wicked heart St. Bernard saith of riches Non tam bona quam minora mala They are not so much good things as they are Sapiùs ventis agitatur ingenis Pinus celsae graviore casu decidunt turres feriuntque summos Fulmina montes Hor. Lib. 2. Ode 10. lesser evil things Where there is the most prosperity there is the least security The tallest Cedars are more subject unto boysterous blasts then the lowest shrubs The little Pinnace rides safe by the shore when the gallant ship advancing with its top-sails is cast away Sheep that have the most wool upon their backs are soonest robbed of their suits The worlds fawning is worse then the worlds frowning Poverty is its own defence from robery Who will disturb those nests in which there are hatcht no birds In our days Malignants could not make estates but yet estates could make Malignants If they took away their lives it was but to get away their lands These Hounds though they could finde nothing against them worth the barking yet they found something amongst them worth the taking But I shall leave them in their dregs that are left in the sudds hoping that the hands of Justice will restore what the hands of Violence did impair Others when their estates are low their hearts are high but Believers when their estates are high their hearts are low Then went King David in and sate before the Lord and said Who am I O Lord God and what is my house that thou hast brought me hitherto 2 Sam. 7. 18. The weighty clusters humbled the branches of this royal vine He doth not quarrel with God for mercies denied but adores God for mercies bestowed Humility it looks with one eye on grace to keep it thankeful and with another eye on vice to keep it mournful As the Peacock by viewing of its black feet puls down its plumed feathers Theodosius thought it more honour to be a member of the Church then to be a Monarch of the world Wilt thou set thy heart upon that which is not Every thing will come to nothing but he that made every thing on t of nothing Many think it shall go well with them hereafter because it is so well with them here As if silver and gold which came out of the bowels of the earth had wings to carry a soul into the bosom of heaven The gates of the new Jerusalem though they stand open to gracious hearts yet they are not got open by golden keys A man may lie Perunt illa congregata sed pejus perit congregator eonum si non in Deo dives suerit Id. 1 bid in the bosom of the creatures for a time and yet lye in the bosom of the Devil for ever The worm of pride is such a gnawing vice that it crops the sweetest flowers of grace Either shut this sin out on earth or else this sin will shut you out of heaven The bowing reed is preserved whole when the stirdy oke is broke to pieces A proud person thinks every thing too much that is done by him and every thing too little that is done for him God is as far from pleasing him with his mercies as he is from pleasing of God in his duties Behold his soul which is
the bark of a tree whist it is young grow up with it till it comes to be old though a standing pool is soon dryed up yet a fountain is always running Its trees that are unsound at their roots that soon cease from the putting forth of their fruits they who for the present are inwardly corrupt will for the future be openly prophane That 's a crazy peece of building that must be cramped with Iron bars to keep its standing false grace is always declining till it be wholy lost but true grace goes from a mornings dawning unto a Meridian shining the vvool on the sheeps back if it be shorn vvill grovv again but the vvoll on the shee skin clip that and there comes no more in its room Philosophy playes vvith this Nullum violentum est perpetuum There is nothing permanent that is violent as a stone that 's mounted upvvards vvhen it loses its impress sinks dovvnvvards but its dreadful to be cast off from God for casting off the vvays and vvork of God A finger divorced from the hand receives no influence from the head He that deserts his Colours deserves to be cashered the Camp Ah beloved it would have bin well if we had made as much conscience in our liberty as we have had liberty for our conscience but we have gone from one Religion unto all till at last we are come from all Religions unto none Every varition from unity is but a progression towards nullity be thou faithful unto death and I will give thee a crown of life Rev. 2. 10. He hath a Crown for runners but a curse for run aways God accounts not himself served at all if he be not always served Non tantum facite sed perficite t is not enough to begin our course well unless we Crown it with perseverance We live in the fall of the leaf divers Sibi ipsis indulgent ex fervidis repidi ex repidis fergidi fiunt Stapl. in Dom. 2. post Epip â—ex â— trees which did put forth fair blossoms their spring is turned into an Autumn and their fair mornings have been overcast with cloudings The Corn that promised a large harvest in the blade is blasted in the eare The light remaines no longer then the sun shines When God ceases to be gracious man ceases to be righteous The flowers of Paradise would quickly wither on earth if they were not watered with drops from heaven How have the mighty faln when the Almighty hath not stood by them The Divel would soon put out our candles if Christ did not carry them in his Lanthorn be not weary in well doing for in due season you shall reap if you faint not Gal. 6. 9. To see a ship sink in the harbor is more grievous then if it had perisht in the open Sea There goes the same power to a Saints strengthening that there goes to a sinners quickening he that doth set us up and make us holy must keep us up and make us steady How easily is a ship sailing to the shore carryed back again by a storme to the Sea O Ephraim what shall I do unto thee and Judah what shall I do unto thee why what 's the matter your goodness is as the morning cloud and as the early dew it goeth away Hosea 6. 4. Their bowls began to slug before they came to the end of the Alley Some have beat Jehues March they have driven furiously in Religion but within a few years they have knockt off there Chariot wheels After they have lifted up their hands to God they have lift up their heels against him that mans beginning was in Hypocrisie whose ending is in apostacy You look for happiness as long as God hath a being in heaven God looks for holiness as long as you have a being on earth he that endures to the end shall be saved Vestis Aaronica expraescripto Dei deorsum ad pedes habuit in circuitu quasi mala punica et tintinnabula aurea Mala punica inter omnes alios sructus sola coronae cujusdam spociem habent illa coront est virtutum perfectio consummatio finis enim coronat opus Hanc idcirco coronam Deus necia principio nec in medio sed ad pedes posuit tunicae sacerdioalis Id. ibid. He shall never be glorious in the end that is not gracious to the end That man must carry his grace within him to the dust that would have his grace carry him with it to Christ if any man draw back my soul shall have no pleasure in him Heb. 10. 38. He that draws back from profession shall be kept back from Salvation he that departs in the Faith shall be Saved but he that departs from the Faith shall be damned We praise the Mariner when he is arived at his harbour and commend the Souldiers valour when he hath obtained the victory the Chrysolite which is of a golden colour in the morning loses its splendor before the evening such are the glittering shews of Hypocrites But though blazing commets fall to the earth yet fixed stars remain in heaven That fire which is lade on Gods Altar when once it s kindled shall no more be quenched Grace may be shaken in the soul but it cannot be shaken out of the soul it may be a brused reed but it shall never be a broken reed Christ is more tender of his body mysticall then he was of his body natural A beleiver though he may fall fowly yet he shall never fall finally The gates of hell shall not prevail against the Saints of Heaven The fiery darts of the Devil that in themselves are intentionally mortal shall be to such Eventually medcinal These bees may startle thee to keep thee wakeful but they shall not sting thee to make thee woful Thy light may be Eclipsed for a time but the Sun will break forth again Under the law God had his Evening as well as his Morning Sacrifice Ther 's as much sweetness in the Sugar at the bottom of the cup as in the cream on the top of the Milk No man that puts his hand to the plough and looks back is fit for the Kingdome of God Our labours are never fulfilled till our lives are expired Religion if it be a thing that is troublesom it will be a thing that tyresome there is no thing constant but what is pleasant though a Saint may some times be weary in doing the work of the Lord yet a Saint is no time weary of doing the Lords work Habitus non amittitur licet actus intermittitur theâ—e may be an omission of grace but there cannot be an amission of grace this babe may lye upon a sick bed but it shall never lye upon a Death bed Christ is stiled the finisher of our faith as well as he is stiled the Author of our faith We have as much need of the spirit to bring up our graces as we have need of the spirit to bring forth our graces
when sown again yeelds more increase or like a stream that hath met with a dam that runs with greater violence when the sluce is opened that 's the fourth The 5. Principle that beleevers should walk by is this That there is the greatest vanity in all created excellency If this truth were more beleeved this world would be lesse beloved A Lady being told that the world in all its glory was but vanity true saith she Solomon said so but he tryed it before he said it and so will I. Thus many beleeve not a Toad to be poysonous till themselves are envenomed with it He that knocks at the creatures door will find but an empty house kept there All the rivers run into the Sea yet the Sea is not full Eccles. 1. 7. All the golden streams of worldly profits though they may run into the hearts of men yet they cannot fill up the hearts of men Did you never heare a rich man complain of the want of riches though he hath enough to support him yet he hath not enough to content him The eye is not satisfied with seeing If there be not enough in the world to satisfie the sences of men how should there be enough in the world to satisfie the souls of men The earth it s not a substance that is filling but a shadow that is flying The fashion of this world passes away 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 Cor. 7. 31. The most excellent and flourishing Tamen ista divites nihil movent quia aureus fulgor ecce cavit eos Bzovius Conc. 28. p. 272. peeces of the whole creation are continually posting to dissolution We are commanded to use the world as though we used it not because whilest we use the world it is not The tide that so floatingly brings in the ship suddenly leaves her in the mud The higher the Sun of prosperity is in its shining the nearer it is to its setting Have you not seen some who have begun their lives in a Palace to end their lives in a Prison The golden Chains about their necks have been turned into iron fetters about their Nondescen det tecum in puteum interni aurum splendidum non lapides coruscantes non servorum caterva non agrorum latitudo Bzov. loco citato feet The substance of this life is but for the season of this life All creature felicity will become a prize to mortality You who feed upon golden dust will have all your gold turned to dust and the short Summer of your prosperity will usher in the long Winter of your adversity You who doe rejoyce in the world ere long will have no world wherein to rejoyce Arise ye and depart for this is not your rest because it is poluted it shall destroy you even with a sore destruction Micah 2. 10. Hearts ease is a flower that grows not in the worlds garden Where doth that fish swim that will not nible at that hook on which there hangs a golden bait How many perish for the having of that which doth perish in the using Why dost thou seek for wealth seeing the greatest Rulers are laid as naked on their dusty pillow as the poorest beggars The faster you grasp the world in your hands the sooner it slides between your fingers What is a man prosited if he shall gain the whole world and Hoc loco notantur duo 1. Inutilitas temporalis lucri 2. Irrecuperabilitas spiritualis Damni Gorr in Loc. Quid expedit concervar◠aurum lapides et gemmas et cum his in interitum pute◠inferior is demorgi Bzovius ubi priu◠lose his own soul Matth. 16. 26. He that bought this ware knows its worth The World if it be gained may be lost againe but the soul if it be lost can never be gained again There is a way to keep a man out of hell but no way to get a man out of hell It s as easie for a stone to lodge in the aire as it s for a man to rest in the earth The glory of this world its like a rotten post that never shews bright but when it is in the dark How few are there that clime the Staves of honor but they leave a good conscience at the bottom of the Ladder Beleevers themselves would surfeit of the worlds sweet-meat if God should not call them away from the banquet Creature comforts they are like sweet dews when they water the branches of the Tree they leave the root dry Why should Christians be found magnifying what * Diogenes et Abdolonymus de quibus loquitur Curtius l. 4. inenis et lib. 2. juxta finem Heathens have been found vilifying The world its rather a sharp Bryar to prick us then a sweet flower to delight us Poyson works more furiously in wine then it doth in water and corruption betrays it self more in a state of plenty then it doth in a state of poverty Gerhard compares this Praeciosa nux apparet haec vita exteriús sed sicultro veritatis aperias videbis quod nil nisivermes et putredo sintinterius Gerhard Medit. 38. life to a beautiful Nut which how fair soever it seems is full of nothing but wormes and rottennesse The earth it is for a Saints passage but heaven is for a Saints portion the former is for a beleevers use the latter is for a beleevers choice Every thing below is too base for the soule Nobility and too brittle for the souls Eternity Who would set that vessel under the droppings of a Cistern that 's able to drink in the waters of the Ocean A Professor stuffed with the world is but like a Bladder filled with the wind They that put on at the first for the world are put off at last with the world Son remember thou in thy life time receivedst thy good things These Blossomes will fall off from our Trees when death shakes the boughs The world it s got with cares and kept with fears and lost with groans We see the outside of a great estate but not the inside of it You behold the field of Corn Mundi honores divitiae et voluptates sunt tanquam uxae acerbae etpoma viridia atque immatura sed specaem anium et viriditatem Diabolus ostendit acerbitatem tacet Stapl in Dom. 1. Quadr Tex 8. but not the Tares that are mixed with it you see not their clouds and nights but their day and Sun The world pretends to be a Nurse but if you draw her breasts in the one you will find the water of vanity in the other the wind of vexation of spirit It s counted miraculous to find a Diamond in a Vein of Gold but it s more miraculous to find a Heavenly Christ in the bosome of an earthly Christian When we have the least of creature enjoyments we should then bless God for them When we have the most of creature injoyments we should not then bless our selves in them Thē world it doth us
Pibble with the price of which I can purchase a Jewell That which the bountious hand of God gives for a Pension that the covetous heart of man takes for a Portion These foolish Travellers are so taken with their Inn that they forget their home Well you sow the seeds of industry to reap the Harvest of vanity I confesse God hath not made all the Trees in his Garden forbidden fruit Doe you thinke he would spread a Table before us and bind us up with a touch not tast not handle not Godlinesse will allow us to taste of the world as sawce but not to feed on the world as meat Outward mercies are not so low as to be peremptorily deserted nor so high as to be primarily desired If they be seducements from the Mercy-seat they will be indictments at the Judgement-seat I may say of the earth as the Philosopher said of the City of Athens that it was a City Ad peregrinandum jucunda but ad in habitandum non tuta Pleasant for journying but not safe for dwelling Outward plenty it may be a comfortable Ship for indigence to sail in but a dangerous Rock for confidence to trust in Many so they may have but something of earth in their hands care for nothing of Heaven in their hearts Ah what fools are they that are so diligent about what is temporal and so negligent about what is spiritual so careful about decaying vanities and so sloathful about enduring excellencies When Crates threw his Gold into the Sea he cryed out Egoâ—perdam te ne tu perdas me I will destroy thee that thou mayst not destroy me If men do not put the love of the world to death the love of the world will put men to death Then thou wilt say as Cardinal Woolsey when he was cast out of his Princes favour and left to his enemies fury If I had served my God as faithfully as I have served my King he would not have left me thus O how many men are there that drops into perdition meerly for a Posy to smell on in their Road to Execution It was a notable speech of Erasmus That he desired wealth and honour no more then a feeble beast desired a heavy burden How are cares bound to crowns anxiety disfigures the face of prosperity and makes it like a Christall glasse blown on by an impure breath that retains little or nothing of its native lustre How far may a man goe before he can see the silver picture of a comely body set into the Golden frame of a gracious soul Work out your salvation with fear and trembling or else you will both fear and tremble for not working out of your salvation Most men are like that silly woman that when her house was on fire so minded the saving of her goods that she left her child rosting in the flames at last being put in remembrance of it she cryes out O my child my child Thus sottish sinners whilest they are scraping for a little substance their soules are consumed in flames and being in Hell they cry out O my soul my soul What got Sisera by his Milk and his Butter when he tasted of the Nail and the Hammer O how curious are men of their Out-wards and how carelesse are they of their In-wards What pains do they take to cover their flesh from nakednesse when their Spirits are not cloathed with the Robes of righteousnesse In a vigorous well complexioned flourishing body there 's a feeble languishing and consuming soul The evil disposition of the latter spoils the good composition of the former For a man to be true to that part that is without him and false to that part that is within him what 's this but as if a Husband-man should gather in his stubble and leave out his corn or as if a Gold-smith should weigh his drosse and disregard his gold Wilt thou trim up the Scabbard and let the Blade of admirable Mettal to gather Rust this is Jacob like to lay the right hand upon the younger and the left hand upon his elder child If there be nothing done by your souls on earth there will be nothing done for your souls in Heaven There 's such an eagernesse in contending for the wealth that 's given to the sons of men that there is no earnestnesse in contending for the faith that 's delivered to the Saints of God Ah what pity is it to see those spirits that came down from Heaven to loose their way up to heaven that ever that should go down to misery that came down from glory That 's the Eighteenth 19. Principle that beleevers should walk by is this That integrity is the best security Dogs that have no teeth may bark but cannot bite and Serpents that have no stings may hiss but they cannot hurt A naked man with innocency is Integer vitae scelerisque purus Non eget Mauri jaculis nec arcu Nec venenatis gravida sagittis fusce pharetrâ c. Hor. lib. 1. Ode 22. better armed then Goliah in brasse and Iron And who is he that will harme you if ye be followers of that which is good 1 Pet. 3. 13. As no flattery can heale a bad conscience so no cruelty can hurt a good conscience As steps in the wayes of righteousness are the most gracious so stripes for the works of righteousnesse are the most glorious A pious Martyr is more renowned then a bloody persecutor Righteousnesse is a brest plate to a man in doing and it 's a Crowne to a man in suffering Our integrity will not secure us Falsa crimina piis objectat et impingit Diabolus eosque suspicione et infamiâ aspergit Abel ubi prius pag 259. from infamy the choicest professors have had black markes in the worlds Calenders but though it do not keep us from being shot yet it will keep us from being hurt The Lord taketh my part with them that help me therefore shall I see my desire upon them that hate me Psal 118. 7. God will either find a hand to hold off suffering or an arme to uphold in suffering Though you be as sheep amongst wolves he will keep you from rending and though you be as Ships amongst waves he will keep you from drowning be not too quick to bury Christus quidem rex ille gloriae magnificum palatium scil Ecclesiam in pâ—trâ firmissimâ aedificavit et circuit muro divinae protectionis Idem pag. 252. a church before she be dead it 's time enough to dresse your selves in sables when you are invited to her funeralls Consult that saying Isa 43. 3. For I am the Lord thy God the holy one of Israel thy Saviour I gave Aegypt for thy ransome Aethiopia and Seba for thee God will pluck up the tares to preserve the wheat as he ript up the womb of Egypt to secure the fruit of Israel as Constantine impoverished all his Empire to enrich Constantinople Noah was sound alone when the
liquor from it though the Author be contemptible yet the matter is considerable God lookes not for what he gives not As well as I am able I have from this Scripture drawn you a Beleevers Picture and according to this Glass doubt not but your selves will dress If these bellowes keep the vestall fire alwayes burning upon the Altar and your graces have their advancement I shall have my contentment I have here laid the Rods of correction on the backs of offenders and given the words of Instruction to the hearts of believers Worthy Sirs Compare what is spoken in the books of men with what is written in the Book of God that the Bristoll stone may not passe for the sparkling Diamond noâ— Brasse and Copper goe as currant as Gold and Silver I would lay no other burdens upon your backs then I would carry upon my own shoulders nor would I have you make any brick but with Gods straw Mans fault cannot prejudice Gods right though we have lost our abillity of obeying yet he hath not lost his Authority in commanding By how much the greater you are then others by so much the better you should be then others where Divine Providence advances to honourable dignity there Divine precepts ingages to proportionable duty on earth it 's your businesse to serve God in Heaven it will be your blessedness to see God Many by feeding upon one dish grow to maturity when they that sit down to a multitude are surfited with variety When others grumble to look upon rich mens estates doe you tremble to think upon rich mens accounts and as the earth will doe you no good when you dye so let it do you no hurt whilst you live They that are in the right way to Paradise should greeve at every thing that hinders their progresse There are many are the Pictures of piety but I wish you may be the patterns of piety Alas what 's the reflection in the glass to the complexion in the face or the form of godlinesse upon us to the power of godlinesse within us such Jonah's in the lading of our Vessells doth but fill the Seas with stormes and tempests You Worthies have almost stretcht your lives to Davids standard and who knowes how soon such may meet with the death of the body that are incompassed with the body of death Whilst you are descending to the bottom of the hill of nature I wish you may be ascending to the top of the hill of grace that the nearer your bodies draw to the pit of corruption the nearer your souls may draw to the place of perfection that your declining Sun may not set under a cloud that hath so long shined in a clear sky Vsually their durations are the shortest whose possessions are the greatest But you have had as larg a share of being as you have had of blessing My hearts desire and prayer to God for both you and yours is that you may be as glorious in Heaven as you have been prosperous on earth that you may be such jewels of grace as may be lockt up in the Cabinet of glory that such silver Cups may be found in the mouths of all your sacks that the word which hath brought salvation to your souls may bring your souls unto salvation that as your children sit like Olive plants about your Table so you and your children may sit like Olive plants about his Table that your little family below may make up that great family above that when others as chaffe are thrown into the fire you as wheat may be gathered into the Garner That you may live long on earth profitably and for ever in Heaven joyfully is the Prayer of Your Humble Servant William Secker The Author to the Reader CHRISTIAN READER WE live in age that is most censorious and yet in age that is least religious where there are any faults men are more skilful to find them then careful to mend them But shall we turn the Sun into darknesse because of its moats or the Moon into blood because of her spots It s in vain to look for clear light where God himself will have a shaddow Good meats displease none but distempered palats and must wholesome dishes be barr'd the Table because they offend aguish stomacks To serve mens necessity is charitable to serve mens conveniency is warrantable to serve mens iniquity is damnable but to serve mens purity is honourable Grace needs a Spur to prick it on as well as Vice needs a Bridle to hold it in The design of this Peece is not the ostentation of the Author but the edification of the Reader I hope none will blow out such a Candle upon earth by the light of which themselves may see the way to Heaven The face of none is so comely in a Saints eyes as the face of Christ and the voyce of none is so pleasant in a Saints ears as the voyce of Christ The Manna of spiritual influences doth usually fall in the Dew of spiritual Ordinances To set them up was a work of mercy in God to us and to keep them up is a work of justice in us to God Whilest we suck at these Breasts they will stream warm Milk into our mouths Dear Christian In this Subject I have given thee a breviary of Religion The works injoyned in it are weighty and ponderous and the wages annexed to it are mighty and glorious Christianity is here cloathed in its white Linnen of purity Wouldst thou obtaine that happinesse which the promise confirms thou must espouse that holiness which the precept injoynes The best way to greaten your felicity is to heighten your activity Grace as it makes our comforts sweeter so it makes our Crowns greater And as it begins in the love of God to us so it ends in our love to God Those children that are found moving in the Orbes of obedience shall have the beautiest Sunshine of their Fathers countenance Christians Be sure to lay your superstruction upon an unmoveable foundation and propagate such a businesse as hath an immediat tendency to blessednesse It 's an unparalel'd mercy to be kept free from corruption in a time of infection It 's better to be innocent then it is to be penitent To prevent the malady then to invent the remedy Christians As you have not a Lease of your lives so you have not a Brace of your lives That that which is corrupted in the former may be corrected in the latter Had we not need to take heed how we shoot that have but a single Arrow to direct to the mark No time is ours but what is present and that 's as soon past as present We had need improve that with the greatest diligence that glides away with the speediest nimblenesse Shall our rests steal away one half of our time and our lusts the other O Sirs The more you have of good in you the more you shall have of God with you yea spiritual actions they will make
he carries with him The Disciples of Christ as they are more then others so they should do more then others A Heathen may move beyond a Sodomite but a Christian must move beyond an Hypocrite Though the naturally dead can do nothing yet the spiritually dead may do something Though they can do nothing as to the obtaining of the grace of life yet they may do something as to the using of the means of life Cicero complains of Homer that he taught the gods to live like men but grace teaches men to live like gods Great persons they are like bells which whilst they are rising strike apace but when they are up are set and strike no more or like flowers which by change of soil degenerate into weeds Thus the highest mountains are the barrenest grounds It s sad that we should live so long in the world and do so little good or that we should live so little in the world and do so much evil All creatures have their several essences according to the creatures essence is the creatures actings Trees are in their bearing as they are in their being Other creatures are not more below a sinner then a Saint is above a sinner Man is the excellency of the creature the Saint is the excellency of the man Grace is the excellency of the Saint Glory is the excellency of Grace Believers are among others as Saul among the Israelites higher by the head and shoulders They are but base-born to them that are twice born What is the lowest shrubs in the bottom of the valleys to the highest cedars on the tops of the mountain Stars that are placed in the highest orbes give the clearest lights Trees planted by the rivers of water yield the choycest fruits They who look for a heaven made ready should live as though they were in heaven already Grace doth not only make a man more a man but it makes him more then a man The primitive Christians were the best of men though they were but men at the best None were more lowly in their dispositions and none more lovely in their conversations Noah was a just man and perfect in his generation Gen. 6. 9. He was not a sinner amongst those that were Saints but he was a Saint amongst those that were sinners Who would ever have looked for so fair a bird in so foul a nest In a field of wheat there may spring up tares A Saint is not free from sin that 's his burthen a Saint is not free to sin that 's his blessing Sin is in his soul that 's his lamentation his soul is not in sin that 's his consolation And the Lord said unto Satan Hast thou considered my servant Job Job 1. 8. Why what was there in Job that was so considerable there is none like him in all the earth Though there was none so bad as Job in heaven yet there was none so good as Job on earth He was a man so like unto God that there was never another man like unto him Beleivers in the world they are the Non-such's of the world It was the saying of a gracious soul hearing of the far goings of Hypocrites Let Hypocrites go as far as they can in that which is good I will follow them and where they can go no further I will go beyond them A Christian is not only to do more then all other men will do but he is to do more then all other men can do Whatsoever is not above the top of Nature is below the bottom of grace Some there are that believe and work not others there are that work and believe not but a Saint must do both He must so obey the Law as if there were no Gospel to be beleived and so believe the Gospel as if there were no Law to be obeyed It s by faith that our works are justified but it s by works that our faith is testified A Christians work doth not lie in beleeving or in doing but in beleiving and in doing There are Four sorts of things First Some things that are neither good nor pleasant as envy and detraction The eclipsing of anothers sun will never make our own to shine with brighter beams O pare off those envious nails that are ever scratching those faces that are fairer then your own Why do you wound your selves with those plaisters that are laid upon your brethrens sores Or weep at every showre of rain that falls besides your own corn Who would grudge an Ox its fat pasture which doth but fit it for the slaughter Or the Malefactors progress through the meadows which conducts him to the gallows Thou hast never the less for others having of the more and others have never the more for thy having of the less Leahs fruitfulness was not the spring of Rachels barrenness Secondly Some things are pleasant but not good as sin and transgression This Bee carries honey in its mouth but a sting in its tail When Jael brings forth her milk and her butter then beware of the nail and the hammer Death is in the pot whilst you are tasting of the broth The fish by leaping at the bait is catcht upon the hook If the cup be sinful we must not taste it if the cup be lawful we must not carouze it Reason forbids either the tasting of known poyson or the being drunk with pleasant wine Sin it is like a river that begins in a quiet spring but ends in a tumultuous sea Thirdly Some things are good but not pleasant as sorrow and affliction Sin that 's pleasant but unprofitable sorrow that profitable but unpleasant God by affliction separates the sin that he hates so deadly from the soul that he loves so dearly They are not to take our spirits out of our flesh but to take our flesh out of our spirits They are not to pull down the tabernacle of Nature without us but to rear up the temple of Grace within us Waters are purest when they are in their motion and Saints are holiest when they are in affliction A foul feskue may point us to a fair lesson Some children never learn their books but when the rod is on their backs By the greatest affliction God doth give the sweetest instruction Though you may resist the Judgements that are laid before you in the word yet you cannot resist the Judgements that are laid upon you by the rod. The purest gold is the most ductible that 's a good blade that bends well without retaining its crooked figure Fourthly Some things that are both good and pleasant and they are gracious operations A Beleivers bed of graces is more fragrant then a bed of spices He that gives his Image to us he loves his Image in us Finally my brethren whatsoever things are true whatsoever things are honest whatsoever things are just whatsoever things are lovely whatsoever things are of good report if there be any vertue if there be any praise think on these things Phil. 4. 8.
Indifferency in Religion is the next step to apostacy from Religion But though Christians be not kept altogether from falling yet they are kept from falling altogether they may part with Christ for a time but they shall not depart from Christ for ever The trees of righteousness may have their autumne but they shall have their spring There is never so low an ebb but there 's as high a tyde Christians are like crocodiles that are growing till they are dying or like the Moon that increases in her beauty till she arrives at the full of her glory take heed of putting off the robes of piety whilst you are on this side eternity You must hold the Scepter of grace in your hands till God set the Crown of glory upon your heads If the service of God be bad why do you set forth in it if the service of God be good why do you shrinck back from it usually they who ride fastest at their first setting forth are soonest tired in their journies it s the sparkling Diamond that is set in the Apostiles Crown 2 Tim. 4. 7. I have fought a Absque perseverantid nec qui pugnat victoriam nec palmam victor consequitur Bern. Ep. 12 good fight I have finisht my course I have kept the faith his work was done before his life was done henceforth their is laid up for me a crown of glory There 's many persons that layes a foundation that never raises up a super structure But Jesus Christ is never a Father to abortive children where he gives strength to conceive he gives strength to bring forth he turnes the bruised reed into a brazen pillar and the smoaking flax into a Triumphant flame that is the 18th 19. Singular action that must be done by singular Christians is To take all the shame of their sins unto their selves and to give all the glory of their services unto Christ Others they take all the glory of their services to themselves and lay all the shame of their sins on him as if he that dyed on earth to redeem us from them should live in heaven to confirm us in them The Devil may flatter us but he canot force us he may tempt us unto sin but he cannot tempt us into sin He is but the Father begeting the evil heart is the Mother conceiving and in this sence the Father can do nothing without the Mother the fire is his bvt the tinder is ours he could never enter into our houses if we did not set open our doors Many complain for want of liberty who thrust their feet in Satans fetters the woman thou gavest me she gave me of the tree and I did eat Gen. 3. 12. I took that as a gift from her whom thou gavest as a gift to me its ill putting of sins brats to suck at Gods brest they may receive their punishment from him but they shall never receive their nourishment from him He cannot be the unrighteous upholder of what he is the righteous avenger O Blasphemy canst thou charge the Sun with darkness by whom the heavens are inlightned or the Sea with dryness by whom the earth is moistened Our Impiety is as truly the off-spring of our souls as our posterity is the off spring of our bodys Every good and perfect gift comes from above from the father of light with whom is no varyableness or shadow of turning Jam. 18. 17. Whatsoever is truly good hath its emanation from God Now the same spring cannot send forth both sweet and bitter waters T is a known rule contraria multuose tollunt contraries destroy each other Many have more leaves to cover the naughtiness of their works then they have cloths to cover the nakedness of their backs How many lay the bastards of Heresie at the door of the Sanctuary calling diabolical soductions Evangelical revelations as if the father of light could bring forth the issues of darkness What 's this but to set a crown of Lead upon a head of gold We can defile our selves but we cannot cleanse our selves The sheep can go astray alone but can never return to the fold without the asistance of the Shepherd till we tast the bitterness of our own misery we shall never relish the sweetness of Gods mercy till you see how foul your faces are you will never pay tribute to Christ for washing of them He that creates us in his image he restores us his Image If we were left to our selves but a moment we should destroy our selves in that moment We are like glasses without a bottom that as soon as ever they are out of the hand are broken Others they greaten themselves to make Christ little but we should lessen our selves to make Christ great Nevertheless I live yet not I but Christ lives in me Gal. 2. 20. A beleiver is willing to stand for a Cypher so Christ may go for a figure well may we abase our selves for his exaltment that abased himself for our establishment Prorsus Sathan est Lutherus sed vivat regnet Christus Let Luther be accounted a Devil so Christ may be exalted as a God said that flaming Seraphim of himself Without me ye can do nothing Nisi tanquam palmites in me qui vera sum vitis insâ—ramini nec multum nec parùm sed nihâ—l potestis in spiritualibus Dav. deter 9. p. 48. Joh. 15. 5. The pen may as soon write without the hand that holds it as grace can work without the Spirit that moves it Not onely the enjoyment of our talents is from God but the improvement of our talents is from God Luk. 19. 16. Lord thy pound hath gained me tenpounds It s not my pains that hath done it but it s thy pound that hath done it Men should not glory in what they have received but they should give glory for what they have received The grace of God without the God of grace it s but like a clock that stands still when all its weights are down Did not our hearts burn within us Luk. 24. 32. But how long did that flame last all the time he talked with us When his bellows gave over blowing their fuel gave over burning Graces in our hearts are like stars in the heavens that shine not by their own splendor but by borrowed beams from the Sun of Righteousness He that takes the brick must give the straw that makes it There is no water except he smites the rock nor fire except he beat the flint If he call us to the work of Angels he will supply us with the strength of Angels For when we were without strength in due time Christ dyed for the ungodly A Soul that is Christless is a Soul that is strengthless Man is beholden to God for what he hath but God is not beholden to man for what he doth But of him and through him and to him are all things to whom be glory for ever Amen Rom. 11. 36. The humble heart knows no fountain
for one man but there one heaven is enough for all men here there 's a showr of tears in the Saints eyes but there 's a sunshine of joy in the Saints hearts A soul once landed at that heavenly shoar is past all tempestuous storms Many temptations may stand against a heavenly Christian but no temptations can stand before a heavenly Christian Flying birds are never taken in fowling snares What 's all that you enjoy here but as dying sparks of that living flame or as languishing raies of that shining sun or as small drops of that overflowing spring Whom though now ye see him not yet beleeving ye rejoyce with joy unspeakable and full of glory 1 Pet. 1. 8. If there be so much delight in beleiving Tam magna sunt illius viâ—ae bona ut non possiâ—t mensurari tà m muâ—â—a ut non possint numerari tam â—reâ—iosa ut ro◠〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ger. 〈◊〉 46. oh how much delight is there in beholding what 's the woing day to the wedding day or the sealing of the Conveyance to the enjoying of the inheritance or the fore tastes of glory to the full draughts of glory Solomon saith The spirit of a man is as the candle of the Lord. When the candle of the soul shal be taken out of the dark lanthorn of the body how gloriously shall it shine if the picture of holiness be so comely in its rough draught how lovely a peice will it be in all its perfections when every grace that is but here in its minority shall be there in its maturity Thus have I dispatcht the first General the Doctrinal Explication I now put off to the practicall Application which I shall spread but into two Branches First For the erection of singular Principles Secondly For the direction of singular practises First For the erection of singular Principles Natural men they obey natural principles and spiritual men they obey spiritual principles No man can expect that bitter roots should produce sweet fruits though civil principles may be lighted at the Torch of nature yet Sacred principles are lighted at the Lamp of Scripture Now there are twenty singular principles that are the rise and spring of singular practises The first Principle for Saints to walk by is this That whatsoever is acted by men on earth is eyed by God in Heaven A man may hide God from himself but a man cannot hide himself from God Their idols are silver and gold the work of mens hands They have mouths but they speak not for our direction eyes but they see not our conditions ears but they hear not our supplications hands but they work not our redemption Psal 115. 5 6. These were not the Gods that made men but the Gods that men had made Ejus divinitas intima est omni rei et verè nulla creatura est ei invisibilis Gor. in loc All things are naked and open unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do Hebrews 4. 12. We cannot see his will in his works but he can see our works in our wills To him the undermost roots are as visible as the uppermost boughs Though the place where you sin to men be as dark as Aegypt yet to God it is as light as Goshan It was good counsel that one gave to his friend So live with men as if God saw thee and so pray to God as if men heard thee He is a bold Thief that will cut our Purse whilest we stare him in the face All the wayes of a man are clean in his own eyes but the Lord weigheth the spirits Prov 16. 2. He sees faults where we see none Atomes that are invisible by the light of a Candle are made to dance naked in the beams of the Sun Cato was so grave and so good a man that none would sin in his presence whence it grew to a Proverbial Caveat Cave tibi spect at Cato Take heed what you do for Cato sees you Magna vobis est necessuas indicta probitatis cum omniaagitiâ— ante oculos judcicis cunctacernentis Boet. in fine de Cons If the eyes of a man will keep many sins out of our hands the eyes of a God should cast all sins out of our hearts To Gods omnipotence there 's nothing impossible to Gods omniscience there 's nothing invisible Momus complain'd of Vulcan that he had not set a Grate at every mans breast but God hath a glazed Window into our dark houses of clay and sees what is done in them I never look that such should straine at Gnats as will swallow down Camels But what 's the reason that men doe the works of darknesse but that they think they do their works in darknesse they think no eye sees them no not his eye that doth nothing but see And thou sayest how doth God know can he judge thorow the dark cloud Thick clouds are a covering to him that he seeth not Job 22. 13 14. How fain would the heart of man draw a vaile over the face of God An unsound creature would be an unseen creature Vnderstand O ye brutish among the people O ye fools when will you Est Deus totus oculus totus intellectus imd totus sapientia et intâ—lligentla Quomodo igitur non omnia videt et paucis interjectis Qui praesto aliisut omnia vide ant et intelligant ego non videbo Zanch de Nat Dei Lib. 3. Cap. 2. Quest 3. be wise He that planted the eare shall he not hear He that formed the eye shall he not see Psal 94. 8 9. What will you make him deaf that gives you ears and him blind that gives you eyes These instead of being men amongst beasts they are beasts amongst men See what follows The Lord knows the thoughts of men that they are vanity and this is the vainest thought of them all that he knows not the vanity of all their thoughts You cannot write your lusts in such smal Characters but the eyes of God can read their Letters As he can save from the deadliest extremity so he can see in the deepest obscurity Plato saith of the King of Lydaea Cum palam ejus annuli ad palmam converterat a nullo videbatur ipse autem omnia videbat Cicer de Offic. l. 3. p. 113. that he had a Ring which when he turned the head to the Palme of his hand he could see every one and himselfe walk invisible Though we cannot see God whilest we live in his Essence yet God can see us how we live in our Actions His eyes are upon the wayes of man and he pondereth his doings Men may gild over the leaves of a blurred life with the profession of holmesse but God can unmask the painted Jezabel of hypocrisie and lay her naked to her own infamy Because sin hath put out our eyes we think it hath put out his eyes Because Deus tum seipsum tum caetera oâ—mia unico simul actu atq intuitu
more hurt in our hearts by loving it then it doth us good in our hands by having it Labor not for the meat that perisheth but for the meat that endureth to everlasting life John 6. 27. Who would loose a Crown above for a Crum below Birds the higher they are in their flights the sweeter they are in their notes The higher a Christian is raised above the things of the earth the more he is ravished with the joys of Heaven Surely every man walketh in a vain shew surely they are disquieted in vain he heapeth up riches and knoweth not who shall gather them Psal 39. 6. He that views an Ox grazing in a fat Pasture Ampla ac locuples facultas perditionem infeâ—r dicitur refugienda est ampla possessio ne consequatur profunda perditio Salv. ad Eccles Cath. l. 2. p. 404. concludes he is but preparing for the slaughter Worldly enjoyments they are but like hot water which when cold weather comes are the soonest frozen The greatest happinesse of the creature is not to have the creature for its happinesse Better not to have the world at all then to have our all to be the world The Raven when it had found a Câ—rrion to feed upon cared not for returning home to the Arke The world its like a Looking-glass there is a face presented by it but there 's no face seated in it When you have sifted out its finest flower it turns to Bran. Labour not to be rich Proverbs 23. 4. A strange paradox if it were not for labour who would be rich and if it were not for riches who would labour But see vers 5. Wilt thou set thine eyes upon that which is not whilest they are they are not They are not that they look like they have not that we look for But what are they not They are not durables but moveables For In hederâ qua delectabatur Jonas parabat Deus vermem ut exarescet ita in rebus mundanis quibus amore multi adhaerescunt nihil est stabile sed vermes corruptionis in illis nascuntur Gerhard Medit. 38. riches certainely make themselves wings and flye away as an Eagle towards Heaven The Cup that now overflows with Wine may be filled up to the brim with Water When the Sun of earthly happinesse is in its Miridian Rayes it may be eclipsed A man rejoyces in health and an Ague shakes him In honour and a Cloud shadows him In riches and a Thief robs him In peace and a rumor disturbs him In life and death disappoints him The Heavens at first had their Dropsie and then the old world was drowned the Heavens at last shall have their Feavor and then the new world shall be burned The earth its big in our hopes but little in our hands It s like Sodoms Apples beautiful Nascuntur pomacirca regionem Sodomae quae delectant exteriori pulchritudine sed contacta in pulverem abeunt Pelicitas hujus vitae exteriús delectat quid si pressiori considerations eam tangas fumo et pulveri similis apparebit Gerhard ubi prius to the eye at a distance but when you touch them they crumble into ashes Riches availe not in the day of wrath not in the day of mans wrath to keep him from plundering not in the day of Gods wrath to keep him from punishing They are but a shield of wax against a Sword of power They can no more keep an evil conscience from tormenting then a Velvet sleeve can keep a broken arme from akeing Fire say some came down from Heaven therefore restlessely works it selfe through all combustibles till it returns thither again Every spiritual soul is Heavens free-born flame raked up in the Embers of flesh and blood therefore restlessely works it selfe through all combustibles till it returns thither again He that comes from above is above all John 3. 31. Shall they who are so Nobly descended be ignobly minded Do but see how the men of the world are upon their knees for the things of the world There be many that say Who will shew us Carnales homines vaga et incerto cursu huc illuc feruntur ad bonum optatuÌ„ adipiscendum qualibet inani specie boni capiuntur quod in communi tantùm et incerto petunt Ames in loc any good Psal 4. 6. As if they could find a Heaven on Earth that should seek an Earth from Heaven It was a wretched expression of a worldly disposition Let but God give me enough of earth and I will never complain of the want of Heaven Thus is the curse of the Serpent intailed upon the seed of the Serpent there 's more of earth in them then there is of them in earth All these things will I give thee if thou wilt fall down and worship me Matth. 4. 9. If a covetous man had been there O how would he have catcht the promise out of the Devils lips for fear he should have gone back from his word Some are so in love with their golden Baggs that they will ride post to Hell if they be well payed for their pains Covetousnesse smothers Holinesse as the damp of the earth puts out the Candle This world it is a stinking Dunghil wherein the Rich are like Cocks crowing upon it and the poor like Chickings scraping about it These hungry souls for want of better fare falls aboard upon such course cheare Tha't 's the Fifth 6. Principle that you should walke by is this That dutyes can never have too much care bestowed upon them nor too little confidence placed in them Therefore Brethren we are debtors not to the flesh to live after the flesh Rom. 8. 12. We owe nothing to our corruption but it 's crucifixian But when God becomes a Donor man becomes a debtor The debt of sin is discharged for us that the debt of service might be discharged by us Every thing hath it's bounds but grace hath none in sollid godlinesse there can be no excesse Those wells that are of Gods digging can never be too full of water He loves to see the plants of righteousnesse laden with the fruits of righteousnesse Though faith justifies separatim a bonis operibus yet not seperata a bonis operibus Though faith justifies alone yet that faith is Sola particula exclusiva additur non ad seperandas alias virtutes a fide aut ab homine justificato a quibus seperari non possunt magis quam lux a sole aut calor ab igne sed a causando justificationem vel ut praeparationes vel merito aut dignitate sua Scharp de just controvers 7. Consule etiam Davent de just act cap. 32. prope finem not alone that justifies Look what Trees are without their fruits that faith is without it's workes In poynt of Sanctification good workes cannot be sufficiently magnified in poynt of Justification good works cannot be sufficiently nullified The most famous Pilots of the Roman Sea when they came
Canaan It s a true expression of Tertullian Major esset authoritas imperantis quamutiliâ—as servientis That Divine authority should be of greater force then humane utility But Religion is so bountiful a Master that none need be afraid of becoming its servants But seek ye first the Kingdome of God and his righteousnesse and all these things shall be added unto you Matthew 6. 33. Our work below is the best done when our work above is the first done Do you make Heaven your Throne to serve it and God will make the earth your footstool to serve you The young Lyons lack and suffer hunger Psal 34. 10. The young Lyons that have old ones to provide for them that will have it if it be to be had but they that seek the Lord shall not want any good thing As you would have no evil things so you shall want no good things He that opens the upper will never close the lower springs There shall be no silver lacking in Benjamins Sack whilest Joseph hath it to throw in grace is no such beggarly blaze as will not pay for its owne blowing when the best of beings is adored the best of blessings are convayed Whilest the rough Esau's of the time hunt after the Venison the smooth Jacobs carry away the blessing For the Lord God is a Sun and Eum qui tam pretiosa largitur qualiter pigebit erga voselementiam exercere Aquin in 8. ad Rom. v. 32. a Shield the Lord will give grace and glory and no good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly Psal 84. 11. What need he fear darknesse that hath a Sun to guid him Or they dread dangers that have a shield to guard them O Christian the God whom thou servest is so excellent that no good can be added to him and so infinite that no good can be diminisht in him he makes happy and yet is not the less happy he shews mercy to the full and yet remains full of mercy Did a man beleeve that the Lord would not fail his body how chearfully would he look after his soule Sinners they look upon times of obedience as upon times of hindrance they trust to their own unutterable toylings and not to his unalterable undertakings they drive such a trade on earth as makes them break in their merchandize for Heaven But what the Philospher said Solus sapiens dives That only the wise man is the rich man That may I say Solus sanctus dives Though every rich man be not one that 's truly godly yet every Godly man is one that 's truly rich The Sun can as easily display its Beams over the whole world as shed its Rayes upon a single field What God receives from man makes him never the richer and what man receives from God makes him never the poorer his goodnesse is capable of imparting but his goodnesse is not capable of impairing If the fountain be still running why shouldst thou fear the want of filling The Lord is my sheepheard I shall not want Psal 23. 1. The sheep of Christ may change their pasture but they shall never want their pasture Is not the life more then meat and the body then rayment Matthew 6. 25. If he trust us with the greater shall we distrust him for the lesser He that hath given us our beings will give us our blessings the great husband-man never over-stocked his owne Commons Jehu had an external Kingdom that served God but in hypocrisie but they shall have a heavenly Kingdome that serve God in sincerity if he valued counterfeit coyne at so great a rate how highly will he esteeme of true gold If he drops so much into a vessell of wrath what will he do into a vessell of mercy If he doe so much for a slave of hell what will he do for a son of Heaven O Generation see the word of the Lord Have I been a wildernesse unto Israel a land of darknesse Wherefore say my people we are Lords we will come no more unto thee Jer. 2. 31. God was not a wilderness to Israel when Israel was in the wildernesse when they wanted bread he gave them Manna from Heaven to satisfie their hunger when they wanted water he broacht a Rock to quench their thirst and though they had no new cloaths provided for them yet their old cloaths did not weare out upon them but as some think as their backs grew so their cloaths grew yea when they were put to their hardest pinch he made a dry lane with watery walls through the deepe channells of the Red Sea They were never better liking then when they were at his immediate finding O how good is a beleevers God! that doth not only shorten his pilgrimage for him but sweetens his pilgrimage to him Christians if they had too much in temporalls might then have too little in spiritualls The three children Daniel 1. 15. did thrive better with their pulse then the rest with the royall allowance O how safely have some men rowed in a narrow river that have been cast away in the large Ocean Little is sufficiency to him who with it enjoyes Alsufficiency Christian get a holy heart and thy estate in Heaven shall be transcendent yea thy estate on earth shall be sufficient Naked piety is a good commodity but Religion is a cloud that will water our gardens Let the people praise thee O God yea let all the people praise thee What then Then shall the earth yield her increase and God even our God shall blesse us Psal 67. 5 6. It 's our unthankfullnesse that is the cause Gratiarum aâ—â—io ampliora a Deo beneficia impetrat Stapl. in Dom. 3. post Epip tex 5. of the earths unfruitfullnesse Whilst man is blessing of God for his mercies God is blessing of man with his mercies Trumpeters repeat their sounding where an eccho is returning What 's the reason that men are so afraid of godlinesse but because they thinke that when they seek for heavenly Manna they shall loose their earthly Mammon That piety is the only enemy of prosperity Could they but reap profit by praying they would take pleasure in praying What is the Almighty that we should serve him and what profit should we have if we pray unto him Job 21. 15. Alas Who would set those plants about him that will yield no fruits unto him The world they look upon gain as the highest godlinesse and not upon godlinesse as the highest gaine As if a worldly substance would make amends for a wounded conscience I am afraid that this worme that is gnawing will bring you to a flame that 's everlasting But godlinesse is profitable unto all things having the promise of the life that now is and of that which is to come 1 Tim. 4. 8. Who knows how many sweet productions are in the wombe of this morning Sun So that men shall say verily there is a reward for the righteous verily there is a God that