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
yet he was not a man of sins Though we cannot equalize his holiness yet we should imitate his holiness As it is the same light which shines from the body of the sun in its meridian and which breaks forth in the dawnings of the morning There 's the same water in the streams that bubbles up at the spring-head Summa religionis est 〈◊〉 eum quem colis Lactant. There should be such a conformity between the life of Christ and the life of a Christian as there is between the Counterpain and its Original As face answers to face in the water so should life answer to life in the Scripture What he was by nature that we should be by grace He that was a way to others never went out of the way himself A holy life is a chrystal glass wherein Jesus Christ beholds his own face In our Sacramental participations we shew forth the death of Christ but in our evangelical conversations we shew forth the life of Christ An excellent Christ calls for excellent Christians And why should we â—ay his yoke is heavy when he says his yoke is easie He went about doing good Acts 10. 38. As he was never ill imployed so he was never unimployed Jesus Christ submits his person to be judged by his actions If I do not the works beleeve me not If I act not like a Saviour do not take me for a Saviour Thus should it be with a Saint Never take me for a Christian if I act not like a Christian If men finde no more among Saints then they find among men they will say Here is a man and a man and not a man and a Christian Man naturally is an aspiring piece and loves to be nearest to those that are highest Now a Christ that did more then others calls on Christians to do more then others Methinks you should take as much delight in those precepts that enjoyn holiness as in those promises that assures happiness and be as willing to be ruled by Christ as you are willing to be saved by Christ To the Saints that are in the earth and to the excellent in whom is all my delight Psa 16. 3. Was it so in his time and shall iâ— not be so in our time The New Testament out-shines the Old as much as the splendor of the sun doth the brightness of the stars If you live under more glorious dispensations you should have more gracious conversations As he is so are we in this world 1 Joh. 4. 17. As he was so should we be on earth and as he is so shall we be in heaven If there be no congruity between Christ and you in holiness there will be no society between Christ and you in happiness That 's the fourth 5. The Disciples of Christ must do more then others because they are more lookt upon then others If once a man be a Professor the eyes of the whole world are placed upon him Because our profession in the world is a separation from the world Beleevers should condemn those by their lives who condemn them with their lips Teach me thy way O Lord and lead me in a plain path because of mine enemies Psal 27. 11. Heb. Because of my observers or propter insidiatores meos because of those that lye in wait for me If you walk in the unpaved road of licentious loosness the world will not go backwards like Shem and Japhet to cover your nakedness but they will march forward like cursed Cham to uncover your nakedness They make use of your weakness as a shield to defend their own wickedness Men are merciless in their censures though God hath more equitable scales and wil give grains of allowance to his own gold A true Christian though he be a Dove in Gods eyes yet he is a Raveâ— in theirs An unholy conversation pâ—lls off the jewels from the beautiful Queen of Religion Sin allowed of in a Saint it s like a slit in a piece of cloth of gold or like a crack in a silver bell The foulest spots are soonest seen in the fairest cloaths The world will sooner allow its own enormities then of your infirmities The loose walkings of Christians are the reproaches of Christ Si Christus sancta dâ—â—uisset sancta à Christianis fierent qualis secta talis sectatores Quomodo bonus magistor eujus tam pravos videmus Discipulos as Lactantius brings in the Heathens ubraiding the Nations So much malice is there lodged in sinners as to reproach the rectitude of the rule for the obliquity of their lives who swerve and vary from it Now your pure lives should hang a padlock upon their impure lips who throw the dirt of Professors upon the face of Profession One hour of the suns eclipsing attracts more eyes to view it then all its illustrious shinings Dr. Whitaker reading that fifth of Matthew breaks forth into these words Aut hoc non est Evangelium aut nos non sumus Evangelici Either this is not Gospel that we Christians profess or else we are not Christians that profess the Gospel The curelty of the Spaniards to the Indians made them cry out Quam malus Deus iste qui habet tam malos servos What an evil God is this that hath such evil servants Gods Jewels should cast a sparkling lustre in the eyes of others One scar may stain the beauty of the fairest face It was a glorious Encomium given of Zachary and Elizabeth They were both righteous before God walking in all the commandmâ—nts and ordinances of the Lord blam â—â—ss Luk. 1. 6. As they were harmless in their actings so they were blameless in their walkings Pure Religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this to visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction and to keep himself unspotted from the world Jam. 1. 2. If you would keep your selves unspotted from the world you must keep your selves unspotted in the world Christians such even threads should be spun by you as none might fasten a snarl upon you That 's the fifth 6. Ground is Because if you do no more then others it will appear that you are no more then others Vna actio non denominat fidelem It is not one action that makes a Beleever no more then its one Swallow that makes a Summer As there is none so evil but may do some good so there is none so good but may do some evil Every being nath its proper acting and where we do not finde the working we may deny the being You would be thought to be more then Publicans and Sinners what and yet act no more then Publicans and Sinners Ye shall know them by their fruits Mat. 7. 20. By the leaves the tree is seen but by the fruit the tree is known The hand of the Dyal is without in going as the wheels of the clock are within in moving Where the heart is of a good constitution the life will be of a fair complexion When the
For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ that though he was rich yet for your sakes he became poor that ye through his poverty might be rich 2 Cor. 8. 9. A drop of his blood is worth a sea of ours and yet he died our death that we might live his life and suffered our hell to bring us to his heaven He was conceived in the bowels of his mother that we might be received into the bosom of his Father His love began in his eternal purposes of grace and ends in our eternal possessions of glory Why was the Bread of life an hungry but to feed the hungry with the bread of life why was Rest it self weary but to give the weary rest why did he hang upon the cross in mount Calvary but that we might sit upon the throne in mount Sion His face was covered with spittle that ours might be enamelled with glory Why did this Jonah cast himself into the sea of his fathers wrath but to save the ship of his Church from drowning Christians you are not vessels in which the waters of life are lodged but pipes through which it is to be conveyed If the mountains overflow with moysture the valleys are the richer but if the head be full of ill humors the whole body is the worser Happy are those persons that God will use as besoms to sweep out the dust from his Temple that shall tug at an oar in that boat where Christ and his Church are carried For David after he had served his own Generation by the will of God fell asleep Act. 13. 36. Davids service was not swallowed up in the narrow gulf of self He did not Advertite aâ—iâ— um popusi capâ—ta atque à â—avid distite quid cor vestrum a peâ—ere deâ—eat Mâ—ndâ—â—uâ—us fallaci uâ— oâ—iâ—us inâ—iaâ—e â—â—◠〈◊〉 decet Sibel ubi supra draw al his lines to the ignoble center of his own ends Such birds are bad in the nest but worse when winged to fly abroad He served his own generation not the generation that was before him for they were dead before he was living nor the generation that was behinde him for they were living after he was dead Every gracious spirit is publick though every publick spirit is not gracious God may use the Midwifery of the Egyptians to bring forth the children of the Israelties An Iron key may open a golden treasury and leaden pipes convey pleasant waters I saw a great wonder in heaven a woman cloathed with the sun and the moon was under her feet Rev. 12. 1. Though carnal blessings may be communicated to a man that is spiritual yet spiritual blessings shall not be communicated to a man that is carnal When the Moon is waxing she hath her shut end towards the earth and her open end towards heaven but when the moon is waining she hath her open end towards earth and her shut ends toward heaven They that live most downwards they dye most upwards Meteors whilst they keep above in the firmament yield a glorious lustre but if they decline they fall to the earth and come to nothing If I do not remember thee let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth if I prefer not Jerusalem above my chief joy Psalm 137. 6. Old Ely mourned more for the loss of his Religion then for the loss of his relation his heart was broken before his neck was broken If the Church be lost we cannot be saved if the Church be saved we cannot be lost Augustus Caesar carried such an intire love to his Country that he called it Filiam suam his own daughter therefore refused And this he had with the consent of all Patris patriae cognomen universi repentino maximoque consensu detulerunt ei Suet. p. 101. to be called its Master but would be called its Father because he ruled it non per timorem sed per amorem Not by fear but by love The people at his expiration used this bitter lamentation Vtinam aut non nasceretur aut non moreretur Macrob. O would to God that either he had never lived or else that he had never died The worth of good Rulers is best seen in the want of good Rulers As we see more in the discomposure of a Watch then when its wheels are set together Such whose lives deserve no prayers their deaths deserve no tears A self-seeker he breaths unrespected and he dies unlamented When once a man becomes a God to himself he then becomes a devil to others and cares not who sinks in the sea so he arrive but safe at the shore Those wretches in the Acts rather then a few shrine-makers should lose their gains cared not though a whole City lost their souls It s reported of Agrippina the mother of Nero who being told that if ever her son came to be an Emperor she would find him to be her murderer she answered Peream ego modo ille imperet Let me perish so he may be Emperor There is many such who though they do not utter it with their tongues yet harbour it in their breasts Pereat Religio modo ego imperem Let Religion perish so I may flourish Now therefore let me alone that my wrath may wax hot against them and that I may consume them and I will make of thee a great Nation Exod. 32. 10. But the affection of Moses as a Ruler quencht the affections of Moses as a Father And such was the noble disposition of Joshua that he first divided Canaan into several parts and portions for the Tribes of Israel before any provision was made for his own family Give me such carvers as lay not all the meat upon their own trenchers That 's the fourth 5. Singular thing is to have the beautifullest conversations among the blackest persons A wicked man as he poysons the air in which he breaths so he pollutes the age in which he lives The putrid grape corrupts the Principis mores mirâ vi in populuÌ„ transsunduntur Stapl. pro. mor. p. 57â— sound cluster Joseph by living in the Court of Pharoah had learnt to swear by the life of Pharoah A High Priests hall will instruct a Peter how to disclaim his Master The sweet streams lose their freshness by gliding into the salt seas They which sail amongst such rocks may quickly split their own ships When vice runs in a single stream it s then a passable shallow but when many of these meet together they swell a deeper channel I will put enmity between thee and the woman and between thy seed and her seed Gen. 3. 15. There must be no harmony where the chief Musician will have a jar It s better to have the enmity of wicked men then it is to have the society of wicked men By the former they are most hateful but by the latter they are most hurtful A good man in bad company is like a green stick amongst dry ones They may sooner kindle him
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
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.
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
Conduit is walled in how shall we judge of the Spring but by the water that runs out of the pipes A Sinner may shew the good he wants but a Saint cannot hide the good he hath When Saul was made a Soveraign he had another spirit poured out upon him a spirit of Government for a place of Government When a sinner is made a Saint he hath another spirit poured out upon him As he is what he was not so he does what he did not It s reported of a Harlot when she saw one with whom she had formerly committed folly she renewed her inticements to whom he answered Ego non sum ego though she was the same woman she was yet he was not the same man he was For him that is more then a man to do no more then a man where is the Christian Are ye not carnal and walk as men 1 Cor. 3. 3. If men act like beasts God will call them beasts and if Christians act like men he will stile them men There is no passing for currant coyn on earth without having of the stamp of heaven That 's the sixth 7. The Disciples of Christ are to do more then others because they are to be judges of others If you consult sacred Records you shall find that both God and Christ and the Saints are said to judge the world the ordination is Gods the execution is Christs the approbation is the Saints When the Apostle would stop the sinful suits among the Corinthian brethren that did not want men of Eminency to put a period unto controversie Do ye not know that the Saints shall judge the world and if the world shall be judged by you are ye unworthy to judge the smallest matters 1 Cor. 6. 2. If you shall judge in causes between God and man how much more in causes between man and man if about matters that are eternal then about matters that are external fellons may be jovial in the prison but they tremble at the Bar. When wicked men come like miserable captives out of their holes how shall the Saints rise out of their graves like morning suns Enoch the seventh from Adam prophesied saying Behold the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his Saints to execute judgement upon all Jude 14 15. This shall no more derogate from Christs Office then the Session of the Justices doth from the authority of the Judge they are Co-operators though not Coadjutators in that peculiar act When the Son of Man shall sit in the throne of his glory ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones judging the twelve Tribes of Israel Matth. 19. 28. Now the world judges the Saints but then the Saints shall judge the world the act of the head is imputed to the members and the act of the members is acknowledged by the head Now shall there be no difference between him that sits on the Bench and him that stands at the Bar How will you be able to pass a righteous sentence upon others for those evils you are guilty of your selves In maxima fortuna minima licentia In the greatest majesty there is the smallest liberty As he said to Caesar Caesari cum omnia licent propter hoc minus liceat Seeing all things are lawful for Caesar to do it is therefore the less lawful for Caesar to do them By faith Noah built an Ark by which he condemned the world Heb. 11. 7. The Saints judge the world not only by their faith but by their facts In the innocency of your lives you should shew the world the filthiness of theirs Thou art more righteous then I. What is the usual prejudice that the world hath against Religion but this that it makes no man better though it makes some men stricter Do not we see that they who profess against pride more then others are themselves as as proud as others These people they often meet together to be better but they are never the better for their often meeting together do but take away their profession and you take away their Religion They have nothing of the sheep but the skin Do but see how the God of Israel doth upbraid the Israel of God Hath a Nation changed their gods which are yet no gods but my people hath changed their glory for that which doth not profit Jer. 2. 11. Here is a professing people out-gone by a people that made no profession The Heathens if they take up their gods they will keep up their gods They were true to their false gods when these were false to the true God Hear O heavens and be astonished O earth Isa 1. 2. Why what is the matter the ox knoweth his own and the Ass his Masters crib but my people doth not know and Israel doth not consider God did not call down a Jury of Angels to condemn them but empannels a jury of Oxes and Asses to pass sentence upon them O that Oxes and Asses should be more religious then those who do profess Religion In their kind they are more kind for if the owner feeds them the owner rides them That is the seventh 8. Reason why the Disciples of Christ should do more then others because they expect more then others And every man that hath this hope purifies himself as he is pure 1 Joh. 3. 3. Hope its too pure a plant to grow in an impure soil You must not look to dance with the Devil all day and sup with Chrâ—â—â— at night or to go from Dalilahs lap to Abrahams bosom If falvation were easily come by it would be slightly set by It s the not raigning of sin in our mortal bodies which makes way for the raigning of our immortal souls Grace is such a pilot as without its stearage you will suffer shipwrack in your voyage Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God Matth. 5. 8. A dusty glass will not represent the face We do not look for a Turkish Paradise but for a sinless state nor to bathe our selves in carnal pleasures but to be consorts of the Immaculate Lamb. Giving thanks to the Father who hath made us meet partakers of the inheritance of the Saints in light Col. 1. 12. You season the vessel with water before you trust it with wine God will season the vessel with the water of grace before he pours into it the wine of glory It s hard to say whether God discovers more love in preparing of glory for Saints or in the preparing of Saints for glory Beleevers let youâ— present deportment be suitable to your future preferment There is no living a life that is vicious and then dying a death that is righteous As Justice crushes none before they are corrupted so Mercy crowns none before they are converted Follow peace with all men and holiness without which no man shall see the Lord Heb. 12. 14. Holiness though it be that which a sinner scorns yet it s that which a Saviour crowns The soul of man that is the cabinet
Lord shall enter into the kingdom of heaven but he that doth the will of my father which is in heaven Mat. 7. 21. Divine knowledge is not like the light of the moon to sleep by but it s like the light of the sun to work by It s not a Loyterer in the market place but a laborer in the vineyard A man may be a great Schollar and yet be a great sinner Judas the Traytor was Judas the Preacher The Toad hath a pearl in its head and poyson in its bowels The tree of knowledge may be planted where the tree of life never grew A man may be acquainted with the grace of truth who never knew the truth of grace Parts and gifts without grace and holiness are but like Vriah's letters that cut the throat of him that carried them You are never the better for your light if you be never the better by your light The sun that whitens the cloth tanns the Blackamoor Shall that be the brand of Christians which was the bane of Heathens Because when they knew God they glorified him not as God Rom. 1. 21. The flint strikes the steel in vain that propagates no sparks You had as good let the Devil put out your eyes that you should not see the truth as let him cut off your legs that you should not walk in the truth Naked knowledg it may make the head giddy but it will not make the heart holy Who would fraught his ship with such drossy ore or stay for such a gale as cannot waft him to his harbor shall we hold a candle in one hand and draw a sword with the other How many Professors are there Isti omnes similes illis sunt qui pro bonae valitudine sacrificant in ipso sacro epulis se ingurgitant quae bone valetudini sunt contrariae Stamp prompt Mor. p. 120. that know what is to be done but never do what is to be known they carry a bright candle in a dark lanthorn Give me the Christian that perfectly fees the way that he goes and readily goes the way that he sees That 's bad ground that brings forth nothing except it be forced To him that knoweth to do good and doth it not to him it is sin Jam. 4. 17. Though sins of ignorance are more numerous yet sins of knowledge are more dangerous Your darkness will be the blacker because your light hath been the clearer Pharnaces sends a Crown to Caesar at the same time that he rebelled against him to whom Caesar makes this return Faceret imperata prius Let him first lay down his rebellion and then I will accept of his crown There is many that set a crown of glory upon the head of Christ by a good profession that plat a crown of thorns upon the head of Christ by an evil conversation By the words of our lips we may adore Religion but it s by the works of our lives that we adorn Religion It was the saying of one That in the best reformed Churches there was the most deformed Christians Look to it for all will be pulled down without you if there be nothing raised up within you But we all with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord are changed from glory to glory by the spirit of the Lord 2 Cor. 3. 18. As trees without fruits are unprofitable so knowledge without works is abominable Those two sisters Leah and Rachel are fit Emblems of knowledge and obedience Knowledg like Rachel is beautiful but Obedience like Leah is fruitful He that will not do what he knows shall not know what to do Be wise as Serpents and innocent as Doves The Serpents eye is an ornament when it s placed in the Doves head O how unanswerable are the lives of Professors to the lights of Professors They have the light of the sun for wisdom and knowledge but want the heat of a candle for grace and holiness I have read a story of a Painter that being blamed by a Cardinal for putting too much red in the faces of St. Paul and St. Peter answered It was to show how much they blushed at their behaviours that stiled themselves their Successors Were Abraham now on earth who is in heaven how would the Father of the Faithful blush to see their actions that stile themselves his off-spring The Saints of old though there was less grace discovered to them yet there was more grace discovered by them They knew little but did much we know much but do little He was a burning and shining light To shine is not enough a glo-worm will do so To burn is not enough a fire-brand will do so Light without heat doth little good and heat without light doth much hurt Give me those Christians that are burning lamps as well as they are shining lights The Sun is as vigorous in its moving as it is luminous in its shining I know the light of nature wants force to repel the lusts of nature But will any say the day is dawning when the skie puts on her sable cloathing And how monsterous is it to see that Christians tongues should be larger then their hands That they should speak so much of God to others and act so little for God themselves That is the second 3. Singular action that should be done by a singular Christian is to prefer the duty that he ows above the danger that he fears Christians should prize their services above their safeties The wicked flies when no man pursues but the righteous are as bold as a Lion Prov. 28. 1. The fearful Hare squats at every noyse when the stout lion is unmoved at the greatest clamors Should Believers for every cross wind that blows shrink back on earth they would never keep their road to heaven My righteousness I hold fast and will not let it go Job 27. 6. He kept his righteousness in his heart when he could not keep his riches in his hands uprightness is such a complexion as is not subject to alteration The lawrel keeps its greenness in the winter season Times of trouble have ever been times of trial It s the suffering season that is the sifting season Now dangers makes the world leave their duties The sithe of persecution cuts down the tender grass of their devotion They that carry not the yoke of Christ upon their necks will never carry the cross of Christ upon their backs It s the doing of what is good that supports in the suffering of what is evil The flesh it is an enemy unto sufferings because sufferings is an enemy to the flesh It may make a man an earthly Courtier but it will never make a man an heavenly Martyr Wicked men they stumble at straws in the way of salvation that can leap over blocks in the rode of destruction Lay heavy weights upon rotten boughs and they will quickly break in sunder if they take up Religion in a fair day they will lay it down in a
He that promises to cover the sincere souls infirmities threatens to disclose the Hypocrites impieties O remember Judas who purchased nothing by his deceitful dealing but a halter in which his body was hanged and a fire in which his soul was burned that 's the tenth 11. singular thing is to be more afflicted with the Churches heaviness then we are affected with our own happiness When we suffer not from the Enemies of Christ by persecution we should suffer with the friends of Christ by compassion wherefore the King said unto me Why is thy countenance sad seeing thou art not sick Nehemiah 2. 2. Sadness is the fruit of sickness What sad when the Kings cup bearer and wine so neare the third verse informes you the reason why should not my countenance be sad when the City the place of my Fathers Sepulchres lieth wast and the gates thereof are consumed with fire Let not Sions sons be rejoycing whilst their mothers mourning are not her breaches like the Sea and there 's none to heal them though you cannot make up her breaches yet let your hearts break for her breaches Have pitty upon me have Non oportet nos laetari in malis proximorum sed compati Stel. in Luc. 1◠3. pitty upon me O me my friends for the hand of God hath touched me Job 19. 21. It s observed of the Bees that if one be sick the other will lament Christianity strips no man of humanity some observe in Swine that there is a sympathy when one is killed the rest are troubled and shall that be lost amongst men which is found amongst Swine Will you see the Church bleed to death and never ask balm to cure her wounds how can such rejoyce in her standing that do not mourn for her falling Others what they do not feel by sence that they will not feel by Sympathy Nero could be playing when Rome was burning we may Suet. in vit Ner. Thus the killing of the infants was Spectaculum Herodi jucundum quia luctuosum Bap. Ferra. Orat. 5. draw up that charge against many persons Amos 6. 4 6. They lye upon beds of Ivory and stretch themselves upon their Couches and eat the Lambs out of the flock and the Calves out of the midst of the stall that drink wine in bowls and anoint themselves with the chief oyntments but they are not grieved for the affliction of Joseph They can weep for the◠dying groanes of a child but not for the dying grones of a Church their love unto their relations transcends their love unto their Religion But he that hath a stock going in the Churches ship cannot but lament at every storme I should be jealous that thats but a silver eye in the head an Ivory tooth in the Mouth a Wooden Leg in the body that is unsensible of its sorrows I will know that the Churches Enimies though they may be Waves to toss her yet they shal never be rocks to split her It s only such fabricks as are bottomed upon the sands that are overturned by the wind he that is a well of water within her to keep her from fainting is a wall of fire about her to keep her from hurting Though he may scoure his plate and his Jewels yer ye will throw such wispes on the dunghills yet Enemies will be found pushing as far as their short hornes are reaching Sion like a bottle may be dipt in the water but she shall never be drownd in the water Many had rather see a Churches Expiration then see a Churches reformation they had rather view her as one thats nullified then view her as one that 's purified they care not how many Tares spring up amongst Gods Wheat When the Churches adversaries make long furrows upon her back we should cast in the seed of tears Saul Saul why persecutest thou me Thus the head cryes out in heaven whilst the Toe is trod upon on earth Jesus Christ though he hath altered his condition yet he hath not altered his affection Death took away his life for us but it did not take away his love from us he that loves to see the face of his Church beautiful eare long will wipe away those bloody teares that run trickling down her cheeks the prise of her redemption is already paid and the Lords will not require that debt again Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem and cry unto her that her warfare is accomplished that her iniquity is pardoned Isa 40. 2. When we see the Church pledgin her beloved in the cup of affliction we should drink to her in the cup of consolation a heavy burden is easile born by the assistance of many shoulders others they are like Galeo that care for none of those things Nay when they should be Sympat hisers with them in their miserie Temerarium judicium est quod ex levi conjecturâ levibusque signis colligitur Stapl. in Dom. 1. post Pent. they are Censurers of them for their misery they judge the golds not good because it s tryed and the grounds is naught because it s plowed It s dangerous smitting them with our tongues whom God hath smitten with his hands Christ himself because he suffered for transgressors was therefore numbred with transgressors What 's this but to give the sharpest Vinegar where we should give the sweetest wine Pour out thine indignation upon them and let thy wrathful anger take hold of them Psal 69. 24. But what 's their sin 26. verse for they persecute them whom thou hast smitten and they talk to the grief of those whom thou hast wounded Sympathy is a debt which we owe to sufferer and creature comforts will fit those seasons no better then a Silver lace would do a Mourning sute a particular loss it s but like the putting of out a candle which brings darkness to a room but a general loss is like the Eclipsing of the Sun which overshadows the whole Hemisphear Pliny tels us of two Goats meeting together on a narrow bridge when the one could not get forward nor the other go backwards the one lay down that the other might go over him How much of men were there in these beasts but how much of beasts are there in some men It s better to be in the humble posture of a mourner then in the proud gesture of a scorner Have mercy upon me O Lord thou Son of David my daughter is grievously vexed with a devil Mat. 15. 22. The childs malady was the parents misery the tortures of the daughter was the torment of the mother as if the one had been possessed till the other was dispossessed The righteous When Alexanders Army was ready to perish with thirst he himself refufed water that was proffered to him with this Heroick Ipeech Nec solus bibere sustineo nec tam ex iguum dividere omnibus possum Quin. Curt. l. ◠Sect 5. perish and no man lays it to heart Isa 57. 1. Sympathy with others makes an estate
Others they live more on their cushions then they do upon Christ more upon the prayers they make to God then upon the God to whom they make their prayers which is as if a redeemed captive should reverence the sword but not the man that hath wrought his rescue The name of God with a sling and a stone will do more then Goliah with all his armour Duties they are but dry pits in themselves though never so curiously cut out till Christ fills them I would have you neither be idle in the means nor to make an Idol of the means If a Mariner will have the help of the winds he must weigh the anchor and spread the sails The pipes can make no conveyance unless the spring yields its concurrence What 's hearing without Christ but like a cabinet without a jewel or receiving without Christ but like an empty glass without a cordial It s only that ladder whose bottom stood on earth on the staves of which we climb to heaven And be found in him not having on mine own righteousness which is of the Law but that which is through the faith of Christ the righteousness which is of God through faith Phil. 3. 9. If you be found in your own righteousness you wil be lost by your own righteousness That garment was worn to pieces on Adams back and lasted but for a days covering Duties they are good crutches to go upon but they are bad Christs to lean upon when Augustus Caesar desired the Senate of Rome to joyn some with him in the Consulship they replied They held it a great dishonor to him to have any joyned with him It s the greatest disparagement that Christians can do to Christ to put their services in equipage with his sufferings You must put off the rotten rags of the first Adam if you would put on the royal robes of the Second To mix the Virgins milk with a Redeemers blood Though the voyce may be humble Jacobs yet the hands are proud Esaus Man is a creature that 's apt to warm himself by the sparks of his own fire though he lie down in eternal flames for the kindling of them Noahs dove made use of her wings but she did rest in the Ark. Duties can never have too much of our diligence nor too little of our confidence For he that is entred into rest hath ceased from his works as God did from his Heb. 4. 10. A Beleever doth not do good works to live but a beleever he lives to do good works It was a proud saying of him Coelum gratis non accipiam He would not accept of heaven gratis But he shall have hell as a debt that Non in carnabâ— bus 〈◊〉 sâ—d in solo Chrâ—sto fiduciam â—alutâ—â— noâ—â—rae omnem â—â—llâ— aâ—iââ—m re collocaâ—â—â— Zanc in loc will not take heaven as a gift For we are the circumcision which worship God in the spirit and rejoyce in Christ Jesus and have no confidence in the flesh Phil. 3. 3. A Christian stands at as great a distance from the best of his services as he doth from the worst of his sins And makes not the greatest part of his holiness to be the smallest part of his righteousness When you have done all then say we are unprofitable servants Luk. 17. 10. When you have obeyed all the commandments from above there is one commandment above them all to be obeyed that is to rest from your obedience A bridge is made to give us a passage over a dangerous river but he that stumbles on the bridge is in danger of falling into the river In the most of our works we are abominable sinners but in the best of our works we are unprofitable servants Our duties are not like the chrystal streams of a living fountain but like the impure overflowings of an unruly torrent I will go out in Omnis alia fiducia quae in quâvis aliâ re colocari potest è cordibus nostris prorsus amputetur omnino necesse est Zanc. ubi prius the strength of the Lord and make mention of his righteousness and of his only Psal 71. 16. The righteousness of Christ is to be magnified but the righteousness of a Christian is not to be mentioned It s a hard thing for us to be nothing in our selves in the midst of our worthiness and to be all in Christ in the midst of our weakness To undertake all our duties and yet to overlook all our duties Our services they are like good wine that relishes of a bad cask The Law will not take Ninety nine for an Hundred it will neither accept of counterfeit coyn nor of clipped money The duty it exacts is as impossible to be performed as the penalty it inflicts is intolerable to be indured We sail to glory not in the salt seas of our own tears but in the red sea of Christs blood Crux Christi clavis Paradisi The gates of heaven were closly shut till the cross of Christ beat them open We owe the life of our souls to the death of our Saviour It was his going into the furnace that hath kept us from coming into the flame T is the ruddiness of his blood that takes away the redness of our guilt Man lives by death his natural life is preserved by the death of the creature his spiritual life is preserved by the death of his Redeemer Moses must lead the children of Israel through the wilderness but Joshua must bring them into Canaan Whilst we are in the wilderness of this world we must walk under the conduct of Moses but when we enter into the spiritual Canaan it must be by the merit of Jesus The same hand that hath shut the doors of hell to keep us out of perdition hath opened the gates of heaven to let us into salvation They that carry the bucket to the puddle of their own merit will never draw water out of the clear fountain of Gods mercy Luther compares the Law and the Gospel to Heaven and Earth we should walk in the earth of the Law in respect of obeying but in the heaven of the Gospel in respect of believing It was the saying of one That he would swim through a sea of brimstone so he might come to heaven at the last What would not natural men do for heaven if they might have heaven for their doings But the heat of the Sun beams wil melt such weak and waxen wings He that hath no better righteousness Omnis anima eget oleo divinae misericordiae then what is of his own providing shall meet with no higher happiness then what is of his own deserving For they being ignorant of the righteousness of God and going about to establish their own righteousness have not submitted themselves to the righteousness of God Rom. 11. 3. Others if they rest not from their duties then they rest in their duties They will sail in their own bottoms though they sink in the Ocean
have done cast them away into corners these make not gain to stoop to godliness but godliness to stoop to gain which is as if a man should fit the foot to the shoo when they should fit the shoo to the foot That Tradesman is poor and needy in what he deales that must have ready money for all he sels Man in the good he doth for God seeks himself more then God The clock of his heart will stand still unless its wheels be oyled If the Virgin should yeild her consent only for her Bridegrooms riches she would not espouse her self unto his person but unto his portion As Seneca saith of friendship begotten upon a sinister account negotiatio est Sen. ep â— non amicitia quae ad commodum accedit quae quid consecutura sit spectat so may I say of this it were not properly to make a Marriage with him but to make a Merchandize of him St. Austin hath an excellent saying Non amat Christum qui amat aliquid plus quam Christum he love not Christ at all that loves not Christ above all You seek me not because Quam multi non quaerunt Jesum nisi ut illis benefaciat 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 officium non pro augendiâ—vi tutibus sed pro requirendis subsidiis inhiare solent Aqâ—i in loc ye saw the miracles but because ye did eat of the loaves and were filled John 6. 26. Christ was the object of their actions but self was the end of their actions They came to Christ to serve their turn and when their turns were served they turned away their service they were cubbord disciples more then men at their meat but less then women at there work when the loaves were gone the disciples were gone when he left feeding of them they left following of him Your weakest building needs the most under propings that 's but Kitchin fire that burns no longer then the grosse fewel of profit feeds it Till you can love the naked truth you will never love to go naked for the truth most persons are mercenary and servile in those works wherein they should be Son-like and free They look more after the streams then upon the spring from whence they are issued and after the beams then upon the Sun from whence they are darted The want of mercy is the onely spring of duty they ply their prayers as Saylors do their pumps only in a storm and for fear of sinking And now O Father glorifie thy Son that thy son may glorifie thee John 17. 1. He prayes for glory more for the Fathers sake that bestowes it then for his own sake that receives it a true Christian doth not desire grace only for this end that God may glorifie him but he desires grace for this end that he may glorifie God Others could they but find the mercyes of God they would never seek the God of Mercyes could they tell how to be well well without him they would never come at him God hath but little of many mens society but when they can find no other company Instead of looking upon godliness as their greatest gain they look upon gain as their greatest godliness They love Religion not for the beauty inhering in it but for the dowry attending on it like the Fox that follows the Lyon for the prey that is falling from him if there be no honey in the pot such Waspes will hover no longer about it When you fasted and mourned in the fifth and seventh month even those seventy years did ye at all fast unto me and when ye did eat and when ye did drink did not ye eat for your selves and drinck for your selves Zach. 7. 5 6. In fasting and in feasting they cast not their eyes upon God but upon themselves they forget not to eat when they were hungry but they forgat to praise God when they were full Their greediness did swallow up their thankefulness Remember God will shut those duties out of heaven that shut him out on earth I have heard a story of a woman that being met with fire in one hand and water in another was askt what she would do with them She answered With this fire I would burn up all the joyes of heaven and with this water I would quench all the flames of hell that I might neither serve God for fear of punishment nor for hopes of reward The less you make these things the end of your working the more will God make them the end of your work God hath three sorts of servants in the world some are slaves and serve him for fear other are hirelings and serves him for wages others are sons and serve him for love Now a hireling will be a changling he that will serve God for something will serve the Divel for more he shall have his works if he will but augment his wages he had an eye to the recompence of reward Heb. 11. 26. This is a good Inn for our desires baiting but a bad home for our desires dwelling the Poets tell us of many who at first were Sutors to Penelope the Mistriss but at last were marryed to the Maids that attended her The ass which carryed the Egyptian goddess had many bare heads and bended knees but none to the beast but all to the burden Demetrius he crys up the goddess Diana but it was not her Temple that he admired but her silver shrines that he adored He was more in love with her wealth then he was in love with her worship Sirs ye know that by this craft we have our wealth Acts 19. 25. If her Temple had been demolished their trade had been destroyed Doth Job serve God for naught yea for Job served God when he had naught He was as good in his poverty as he was in his plenty In this sence that man that serves not God for naught that man is naught in serving God Love it trades not for returns here it payes it self in serving its beloved It s storied of one that being askt for whom he laboured most answered for his friends And being askt for whom he laboured least answered for his friends love it doth most and yet thinks least of what it does Hypocrites they are more in love with the gold of the Altar then they are with the God of the Altar Wo to your scribes and pharisees Vae vobis quia avaritiam vestram Colore Religionis depingitis Diabolo Christi arma praestatis ut iniquitas ametur dum pietas aestimatur Gor. in loc for they devour widows houses and for a pretence make long prayers therefore ye shall receivce the greater damnation Mat. 23. 14. They fasted all the day but to feed upon the widows cost at night they hatcht the birds of oppression in the nests of devotion These Spiders they weaved the webb of their works to catch the fly of their wealth thus true is Augustines observation Saepe aliter se habet species facti aliter facientis animus
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
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
but Gods grace and the upright man knows no end but Gods glory Waters will rise as high as they fall whatsoever action hath God for its author hath God for its center as a circular line makes its last ending where it had its first beginning Take heed of turning a sacred priviledge into a privy sacriledge If he give the grace that is not due to us shall we deny the praise that is due to him Others they make their end their God but we must make God our end The firmament is made more glorious by one sun then by all the stars that are seated in their several orbs And Jesus Christ from one Saint hath more glory given to him then he receives from all the world besides him The silver shrines of divine praises they ard passively pared off from the beings of other creatures but they are actively given up from the beings of the New creature Whether you eat or drink or whatsoever you do do all to the glory of God 1 Cor. 10. 31. From the lowest act of nature to the highest act of grace there is no plea for the pride of man but for the praise of God Not unto us not unto us but unto Varâ—s vos Deus cum â—at bonis quidni in laudes ejus erumpamus Sibel conc 3. in lim thy name be the glory If he make our natures gracious we should make his name glorious God sets many dishes upon our table but we must set this dish upon his table He that would be fingering the honor of a God is not fitting for the honor of a man As he said Aut Caesar aut Nullus Either I will be Caesar or nobody So the Lord saith Aut Deus optimus Maximus aut nullus Either I will a great God or else I will be no God That man disparages the beauty of the Sun that lays it level with the lesser stars The glory of God must be the golden Butt at which all the arrows of duty are shot or else they fall short of their mark Go forth O ye daughters of Sion and behold King Solomon with the crown wherewith his mother crowned him in the day of his Espousals Cant 3. 11. The body it hath two eyes but the soul must have but one and that so firmly fixt on Christ as it must never glance beside him A single eye is fittest for a single object When the people saw what Paul had done they lifted up their voyces saying The Gods are come down to us in the likeness of men Act. 14. 11. But do they take that glory to themselves that 's given to them from others No v. 1. Why do you these things we also are men of like passions with you We are so far from the perfections of God that we are cloathed with the passions of men But do others so The people gave a shout saying It is the voyce of God and not of men Act. 12. 22. What the people gave foolishly he took fearlesly vers 23. And immediately the Angel of the Lord smote him because he gave not God the glory and this same worm-eaten wretch was a wretch eaten up of worms Every little river pays its tribute to the great sea The blessings of God are to be magnified but the being of God is it I may so speak to be omnified Magnus gratiae oceanus est Deus ad quem per canalem gratitudinis beneficia quae ex ipso manarunt refluere atque reverti debent We have no way to turn the streams unto God the ocean of bounty but through the channel or conduitpipe of gratitude Giving thanks to the Father who Sibel con 9. juâ—â— med hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the Saints in light Col. 1. 12. It s very meet that he should be magnified by us that Aeqâ—itâ—tem om nâ—m abâ—â—â—e runt qui tot tantisqueâ—eneficiis ornati graâ—os se bene factori non praebent Id. concâ—â— in miâ— makes us meet to be glorified with him The whisperings of the voyce are ecchoed back in an exact concave The body of man if it be sound can stoop for a pin as well as for a pound As the best of means should make us fruitful so the least of mercies should make us thankeful The four and twenty Elders fall down before him that sate on the Throne and worshipt him that lives for ever and ever and east their crowns before the throne Rev. 4. 10. A divine soul knows that whatsoever oyntment is poured out upon Christs head runs down to the skirts of his garment What he gives to him in copper shall be returned to him in silver yea the onely way of keeping our Crowns on our heads is the casting our Crown at his feet Joseph of Arimathea he builds a sepulchre for Christ and he makes use of it for three days and returns it again perfumed Well may we give all our glory unto him who hath given all his glory unto us A Christian as he lays up himself in God so he lays out himself for God and is wllling to dedicate to God that perfume of prayses which ariseth from his beds of spices 20. Singular thing is To value a heavenly reversion above an earthly possession Others say that a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush but we say that such a bird in the bush is worth two in the hand They that adore the streams its an argument that they are ignorant of the spring Socrates being askt what Countryman he was answered Civis sum mundi The whole world is my Country But a Christian being askt what Countryman he is answered Civis cum coeli Heaven is the region that I am free of Beleevers build their tombs where others build their Tabernacles The men of the world fix upon the things of the world that is the shrine and cabinet wherein they lock up all their jewels Though God hath given the earth to beasts yet such beasts are they as to give themselves to the earth It was the saying of a cursed Quis non illius vitae desiderio praesentem vitam despiciat Quis non illius aâ—undantiae deâ—ectamento divitâ—as teâ—poris labentis exhor reat c. Fulg. in Epist 6. ad Theodor. Cardinal That he preferred his part in Paris before his part in Paradice That is but a cock of the worlds dunghil that prises a barly corn before a jewel What is the glimering of a candle to the shining of the sun or the value of brass and copper to the worth of gold and silver Yet children are taken more with present counters then with future Crowns Thus whilst the shadow is imbraced the substance is neglected and men court the vail when they should kifs the face That man that is a labouring Bee for earthly prosperity will be but an idle drone for heavenly felicity If you be risen with Christ seek those things which are above where Christ
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
perfectissime certissime et distâ—nctissime 〈◊〉 Polâ—and Dsp Theol p. 73. we see not what God doth in Heaven for earth we think that God sees not what we do on earth against Heaven Men care not what they do when they beleeve that God sees not what is done They slay the widdow and the stranger and murder the fatherless Psâ—l 94. 6. They say the Lord shall not see neither shall the God of Jacob regard it The Adulterer he waits for the twi-light his sin gets up when the Sun goes down The time of darknesse payes most tribute to the Prince of darknesse There are many that blush to confesse their faults that did never blush to commit their faults though we gain by confessing what we loose by transgressing Poor Adam when he had sinned he sought not the fairest fruits to fill his emptinesse but the broadest leaves to cover his nakednesse Its Gods eyeing of us that makes us prosperous but it s our eyeing of God that makes us vertuous What servant is there that would be a sleeper under the view of his Master Or what Souldier will be a Coward in the presence of his General 2. Principle that you should walk by is this That after all your present receivings you must be brought to your future reckonings Give an account of thy Steward-ship for thou mayest be no longer a Steward Luke 16. 2. Mans enjoyment of outward blessings is not a Lord-ship but a Steward-ship When we Haecbona Deus hominibus communicat non ut ipsieorum sint Domini sed dispensatores ad alios Cherm Har. Evang. cap. 122. take our leave of the earth the earth takes its leave of us The rich man had as poor a beginning as the meanest and the poor man shall have as rich an ending as the greatest Austin Ideo latet ultimus dies ut observantur omnes dies We should every day be expecting our last dayes approaching Persons of the greatest eminence have anciently had their Moniters The Sicilian Prince Agathocles Is Rex et Dominus factus Siciliae fictilia pocula interserere solebataureis Plut. Apoth Sect. 26. had his earthen Plate to tell him that he was but a Potters son The Roman Triumphers in the Meridian of all their splendor had a servant behind them crying to each of them Memento te esse hominem Men that are Gods in Office are apt to think themselves Gods in Essence As they say of the Pope at his installment Mutatio nominis is mutatio hominis The change of the name makes the change of the man I have said ye are Gods but ye shall dye like men Psalm 82. 2. This Divinity it s shrouded up in Mortality and they that are Gods before men are but men before God Death levels Palidamors aeguo pulsat pede pauperum tabernas Regumque turres Horat Od. 4. the highest Mountains with the lowest Valleys and mows down the Lillies of the world as well as the grasse of the field The Robes of Princes and the rags of Peasants are both laid up together in the Wardrobe of the grave That Star that led Israel from Aegypt went out of sight before they came to their journeys end For we must all appear before the Omnes nos generaliter sine excaptione manifestari evidentèr sine absconsione oportet inexcusabiliter sine evasâ—one â—nte Tribunal praesentialiter sine procuratore Gor. in loc Judgment Seat of Christ that every one may receive the things done in his body according to that he hath done whither it be good or whither it be evil 2 Cor. 5. 10. They who refused to come before his Mercy-seat shall be forced to come before his Judgment-seat At the shril voice of the last Trumpet the greatest Jailors shall surrender up 〈◊〉 their prisoners Now we see living men begin to dye but then we shall see deaâ— men begin to live The scattered dust of Adams seed shall ride upon windy wings till it meet together in a collected body Thy dead men shall live together with my dead body shall they arise awake and sing ye that dwell in dust Isa 26. 19. All the creatures in the world that have made their meals of mans flesh shall find that they have eaten morsels too hard for the digestion of their weak stomacks Now he that comes to raise the dead he shall come to Judge the dead In the day that God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ according to my Gospel 2 Rom. 16. The same Rule that God hath given the creature to act by the same Rule he hath taken himselfe to judge by If you obey not the truth of God revealed from Heaven unto you you shall suffer the wrath of God revealed from Heaven against you Though you may resist the judgments that he layes before you yet you can never resist the judgments that he layes upon you O shake the Vipers of lust off of your hands lest they pull you into unquenchable flames Let nothing be acted in one world which cannot be answered in another Because he hath appointed a day in which he will judge the world in righteousnesse by that man whom he hath ordained Acts 17. 31. It s the Son of man by whom the world was redeemed and its the Son of man before whom the world is arraigned He who was guarded to the Crosse with a band of Souldiers shall be attended to the Bench with a guard of Angels The Thebanes pictured their Judges without eyes that they might not respect persons and without hands that they might not receive bribes Shall not the Judg of all the world do right The wills of other Judges are regulated by righteousnesse but righteousness it self is regulated by this Judges will As all his works are great and marvelous so all his wayes are true and righteous Then there will be no standing before Christ but by standing within Christ What hopes shall he have at the general Assises whose conscience condemns him before he appears Rejoyce O young man in the dayes of thy youth and walke in the wayes of thy heart and in the sight of thine eys Eccl 11. 9. You will say this is brave indeed if it Fruere ut libet hujus mundi voluptatibus quòd si rebus hujus seculi insolescas et abutaris haud dubiè acerrimas aliquando lues paenas et extremo occurres judicio in quo vitae tuae redditurus es rationem Arboreus in loc would alwayes last O but after the flash of Lightning comes the clap of Thunder But know that for all these things God will bring thee to judgement As if he had said well run down the hill as fast as you please you will be sure to break your necks at the last This is the day of Gods long-suffering but that shall be the day of mans long-suffering Here the cords of patience doth as it were tye the hands of vengeance Sinners they have forbearing mercy though they want forgiving mercy
your consciences the black hand must then part with the white glove That Day will be too criticall for the Hypocriticall You that are now coloured for show shall ere long be showne in your colours 3. Principle that you should walke by is this That God beares a greater respect to your hearts then he doth to your workes God lookes most where man looks lest My Son give me thy heart Prov. 23. 26. We cannot trust God with too much nor our selves with too little The first is our keeper the last is our Traitor Here you have the dignity with which a beleever is invested and the Duty to which a beleever is invited The God of Heaven and Earth sues from Heaven to Earth He that is all in all to us would have that which is all in all in us We commit our estates into the hands of men but we must commit our hearts into the hands of God There 's none of our spirits so good but he deserves them there 's none of our spirits so bad but he desires them On whom do parents bestow their hearts but upon their children and on whom should children bestow their hearts but upon their parents but man hath no mind to give what God hath a mind to have This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth and honoureth me with their lips but their heart is farre from me Matthew 15. 8. Heartlesse operations are but hearty dissimulations You may keepe your works to your selves if you doe not give your hearts to him He that regards the heart without any thing he regards not any thing without the heart I beseech you therefore Brethren by the mercies of God that you present your bodies a living sacrifice holy and acceptable to God Rom. 12. 1. He that makes 〈◊〉 hath must have all he makes The Formalist he is all for outward activity the sensualist he is all for inward sincerity The one hath nothing within therefore he is for what is outward the other hath nothing without therefore he is for what is inward But it is not the pretence of inward sincerity that can justifie outward impiety nor a shew of outward piety that will excuse inward hypocrisie Though the braine be the spring of sensitive motion yet the heart is the Originall of vitall motion The heart its Primum vivens ultimum moriens it s the first that lives and the last that dyes O Jerusalem wash thy heart from wickedness how long shall vain thoughts lodge within thee Jer. 4. 14. Vaine thoughts defile the heart as well as vile thoughts as snails leave their slime behind them as well as Serpents If the Leprosie takes a single thred it spreads over the whole peece Though you cannot keep sinfull thoughts from rising yet you should keep sinfull thoughts from reigning Though these birds may hover over your houses yet let them not build their nest in its heaves The Devill knows if there be any good treasure it is in our hearts and he would faine have the key of this Cabinet to rob us of our Jewells A heart that is sanctified is better then a tongue that 's silvered he that gives but the skin of worship receives but the shell of comfort It is not the bare touching of the strings that is the making of the musick A spirituall man may pray carnally but a carnall man cannot pray spiritually If our duties doe not eat out the heart of our sins our sins will eat out the heart of our duties A worke that is heartlesse is Quando ea quae per se quidem et suo genere bona sunt fiant si non recte nec bene fiant non placent Dep. Chem. Evan Har. cap. 51. a worke that is fruitlesse God cares not for the crazy Cabinet but for the precious Jewell It 's said of Haniball that prime Captaine that he was Primus ingressus ultimus egressus The first that went into the Field and the last that came out of the Field Thus should it be in all the operations of a Christian The heart should be the first that comes into Duty and the last that goes out of Duty In prayer the heart should first speak the words and then the words should speake the heart All the inferiour Orbes they follow the motion of the superiour ones If the heart be inditing of a good matter the tongue will be as the pen of a ready writer It 's observed of the spider that in the morning before she seeks her prey she mends her broken webb and in the doing of it she alwayes begins in the middle Christians before you pursue the profits and the pleasures of the world you should mend the broken webbs of your lives and in the doing of it you should alwayes begin at the heart If you would have the Cocks to run wholsome water you must looke well to the springs that feeds them The heart is the presence Chamber where the King of glory takes up his lodgings That which is most worthy in us should be given to him that is most worthy of it Good words without the heart are but flattery and good works without the heart are but hypocrisie Though God pities stumbling Israelites yet he punishes halting hypocrites It 's reported of Cranmer that after his flesh and bones were consumed in the flames his heart was found whole A gracious soule is cloathed with sincerity in the midst of it's infirmities God is a Spirit and they that worship him must worship Indicat quod Deus incorporeus est oportet igitur et incorpoream ejus culturam esse hoc est per animam et intellectus puritatem nos es offere Aquin. in loc him in spirit and in truth John 4. 24. You can never give him the heart of your services unlesse you give him your heart in your services It 's his heart that speaks a mercy saving and it is our hearts that makes a duty pleasing It 's said of the Lacedamonians that were a poor people and of the Athenians that were a rich people the former offered up leane sacrifices to Apollo the latter fat ones Yet in their warres the Lacedamonians were alwayes conquerours and the Athenians were alwayes conquered whereupon they went to the Oracle to know the reason why they should speed worst that gave most The Oracle gave them this returne The Lacedamonians were a people that gave their hearts to their Gods but the Athenians did only give their gifts to their Gods Thus a heart without a gift is better then a gift without a heart Religion that 's a sacrifice but the heart that 's the Altar upon which it must be offered As the body is at the command of the soule that rules it so should the soule be at the command of God that gives it For a man to send his body to the service of God and leave his soul behind him it 's as if a man should send his cloath's stuff't with straw instead of a
carnal man and what he can do that he will not take a Christian man what he would do that he cannot Now impotency shall be pityed when obstinacy shall be punished God hath mercy for cannots but none for will nots Adams want was rather will then power but our want is rather power then will Psal 119. 5. O that my wayes were directed Emitto vocem cupientis et antrelantis Donec liberati simus semper clamabimus utinam Suspirabimus ex sensu imbecilitatis nostrae Donec gaudium plenum sit infruitione Rivet in loc that I might keep thy statutes A Saints will begins where his work ends Lord I beleeve help my unbeliefe Lord I see enlighten my darkness I hear but cure my deafness I move but quicken my dulness I desire but help my unwillingness I remember but remove my forgetfulness In the playing of a Lesson a single string may jarr and slip and yet the main be musicall It were a folly indeed to think our fields had no corn because there is chaff or that the pile had no Gold because there is Dross In Heaven there 's service alone without any sin In hell there 's sin alone without any service but on earth there 's sin and service in the same heart as there is Wine and Water in the same Cup. To condemn thy evil is good but to condemn thy good is evil Here beleevers are like the Israelites that in their darkest night had a pillar of fire and in their clearest day had a pillar of a cloud Above us there 's light without any darkness below us there 's darknesse without any light but here it s neither day nor night but in the evening it shall be light Though the lowest beleever be above the power of sin yet the highest beleever is not above the presence of sin It s in a living man that lust is mortified but it s in a dying man that lust is nullified When the body and the soul are separated by mortality sin the soul are separated to eternity though a forced compulsion is sufficient to testifie a Tyrant yet its ready obedience that proves homage to a King Sin never ruins but where it reigns It s not destroying where it is disturbing Lust its least hurtful where it is most hateful The more evil it receives from us the lesse evil it doth to us it s only a murderer where it is a Governour But the Rose is a fragrant flower though it be surrounded with prickles The Passover was a feast though it was eaten with sowre Hearbs There 's much of the wild Olive in him that 's ingrafted into the true Olive Our graces are our best Jewels but they do not here yeild their full lustre The Moon when it shines brightest hath its spots and the fire when it burns hottest hath its smoak I said in my hast I am cut off from before thine eyes nevertheless Intalem stupori excessum adductus fui ut mihi viderer projectus a conspectu praesentiae tuae tu verò exaudita mea oratione quanto ejus ad fuisti per subventionem et consolationem misericordiae tuae Titelman in Locum thou heardest the voice of my supplication Psal 31. 22. Who would have thought that ever those prayers should have had any prevalency that were mixed with so much infidelity Sin is an enemy at our backs but not a friend in our bosomes Although beleevers should be mournful because they have infirmities yet they should be thankful because they are but infirmities It is not the Interposition of a cloud that makes a night but the departing of the Sun Take the best beleever that breaths and he is fuller of his sins then he is of his prayers There is too much of earth in our imployments for Heaven But as he that drew Alexanders picture when there was a scar on his facedrew him with his finger upon the scar so Jesus Christ when he draws the picture of the Saints excellencyes layes his finger upon the scars of the Saints infirmities He looks over what is his and overlooks what is theirs Where there is no sins of allowance in them there shall be grains of allowance to them he will not throw away his Pearls for every speck of dirt Christ honours grace in its maturity yet he owns it in its minority O thou of little faith wherefore didst thou doubt They had faith enough to keep them from damning but they had not faith enough to keep them from doubting The least buds draw sap from the root as well as the greatest branches Though one Star exceed another in magnitude yet both are alike seated in the Heavenly Orbe Though one member of the body be larger then another yet each hath an equal conjunction with the head The Rind of good actions is tainted by infirmities but their Core is rotted by hypocrisie Jacob halted and yet was blessed as his blessing did not take away his halting so his halting did not keep away his blessing Hagar will have a room in Sarahs house till death turne her out of doors Death as it leaves the body soul-lesse so it leaves the soul sinlesse For if there be first a willing mind it is accepted according to that a man hath and not according to that he hath not 2 Cor. 8. 12. He doth not look that the Cock should run water when there 's none put into the Cistern Jesus Christ doth not put out a beleevers Vae nobis si secundum firmitatem fidei Deus nobiscum agere vellâ—â— Chem Har Evan cap. 83. p. 15. 85. Candle because of the dimness of its burning nor overshadow a beleevers Sun because of the watriness of its shining Though that Vice may be found in us for which he might justly damn us yet he hath not lost that grace by which he can as easily save us He comes not with water to put out the fire but with wind to drive away the smoak The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the Lord Pro 15. 8. because the Incense stinks of the hand that offers it Not only the wickeds plotting against the Godly is sinful but also the wickeds praying unto God is sinful but what follows The prayer of the upright is his delight If the vessel of the heart be clean he will taste of the liquor that 's drawn from it O my Dove that art in the clefts of the Rocke in the secret places of the Stareâ— lee me see thy countenance let me hear thy voice for sweet is thy voice and thy countenance is comely 2 Canticles 14. That 's the ninth 10. Principle you should walk by is this That inward purity is the ready road to outward plenty That 's but a Hell-bred Proverb â—lain dealing is a Jewel but he that uses it shall dye a beggar Religion though it be against our ease yet it s not against our interest O what clusters of Grapes hang all along our way to
sinfull Many a man hath been thrown out of the Saddle of profession by â—iding with too slack a Rain of circumspection Little sins are not like an inch of Candle that goes off in an absolute period but they are like a Train of Powder which takes fire from corn to corn till at last the Barrel is burst in sunder Or as a little sicknesse which is an humor disposing to a strong distemper As those persons that are way-layed by a Consumption they loose first their vigour and then their colour An honest Matron will blush to be found in the dresse of an whorish wanton What will you lay that in the Chamber which laid Christ in the Manger Is your house so largely built that you can afford that a harbour which you know to be a Traytor Hating the very garment spotted with the flesh Jude 23. If you would keep your cloaths from burning be sure you keep your skirts from singing A sick man abhors the Cup out of which he took his loathsome physick A beleever he disbands those Auxiliaries that have yielded strength to his Adversaries If Achan handle the golden Wedg his next work will be to steal it away If Ruth will lye at the feet of Boaz her next remove is into the bed of Boaz If you take the Devils Cup into your hands you will quickly lift it to your heads 13. Principle that beleevers should walk by is this That whatsoever is temporally enjoyed should be spiritually improved What we receive from the hand of Divine bounty we should imploy to the height of Divine Glory Others they make an earthly use of things that are heavenly but we should make a heavenly use of things that are earthly we should put a golden Bias into a Leaden Bowl that it may run true to him that made it The more your Wheels are oyled on earth the swifter should your Chariots move to Heaven I say unto you make to your selves friends of the Mammon of unrighteousnesse that when ye faile they may receive you into everlasting habitation Luke 16. 9. There is a way to plume the wings of riches and to lay up that treasure in Heaven which came out of the bowels of the Earth There is a Divine Chymestry that can extract the purest spirits out of the most grosse and fecculent matter That can advance Flints and Pibbles into a neer resemblance to precious stones The beast on the Altar differed not in kind from the beast at the Slaughter There is a lawful craft of coyning your money over again and adding the Image and Superscription of God to what is Caesars They say of the Philosophers stone that it turns what ever it touches into Gold Whatever Mill a Saint hath going in the world he should spread the Sailes of it for Gods glory when he doth set up us then we should lift up him How unequal is it to be hot in our prayers and cold in our praises to cry aloud Give us this day our daily bread and then to whisper out Hallowed be thy name What 's this but to open our Windows to let in the light and then to close them again to keep out the Sun or to lay a Pipe to convey the water into the Cistern and then turn the Cock against the Spring To remember God in our necessities and to forget Omnes qui aquâ indigent praecipites in fontem vadunt in eum oculos et animum dirigentes sed jam benè potati revertuntur terga fonti animumque vertentes sic multi in suâ siti et tribulatione Divinae bonitatis fontem inclamant liberati obliviscuntur Stapl Prom Mor Dom 3. Post Epip Tex 5. God in our superfluities as if his kindness were not as proper a ground for praising of him as his goodnesse is for praying to him If under miseries we can seek out God with tears under mercies we should set forth God with praise Mercies they are such gifts as advance our debts 'T is as sad a Spectacle to see a Saint in an ungrateful posture as it was to see Pharoahs lean Kine in a fat Pasture Shall man find God a Master that is bountiful and shall not God find man a servant that is dutiful If he gives us any enjoyments it is but for his own entertainments And well may that hand reap the fruits that sets the Plants Shall not he be found feeding at a Table of his own spreading Where former blessings have been improved there future blessings shall be conveyed He shall never want mercy that doth not play the wanton with mercy but if the child crumbles away the meat on his Trencher no wonder if there come a Voyder When we fight against God with his own mercies we doe but beat our selves with our own sins In vain have I kept all that this fellow hath in the Wildernesse so that nothing was missed of all that pertained unto him and he hath requited me evil for good 1 Sam. 25. 1. There was nothing wanting to him but there was something wanting in him Take a wicked man and Sicut nubes virtute radii solaris o terrâ exaltatur et attollitur sublatâ autem ipsu aerem obnubicat radios solares obscurat sic homo ingratus Dei favori exaltatus Deum posteà spernit et mandata ejus violat Stapl ubi priùs he is not led to God by that which comes from God He is like the Sea that turns the sweetest showers into the saltest waters God hath the least of service when he hath the most of substance That which should be a Bolt to keep sin out is but a Latch to let it in The Moon when its fullest of light with which it is adorned is farthest from the Sun from whence it was derived They send that River laden out with injuries that came flowing in with commodities The more a dunghil has the Sun beams shining on it the more noisome is the savour proceeding from it Sinners instead of having Viols full of Odors they have Vessels full of evils The flames of wrath will be hottest in their burnings where the beams of love have been sweetest in their shinings How often do we see those who are above others in outward greatnesse to be below others in inward goodnesse The weaker vessels by nature are many times the stronger vessels in grace To turn from God when he blesses us is a greater evil then to turn from God when he smites us Jesus answered many good works have I shewn you from the Father for which of these good workes doe you stone me John 10. 32. He crowned them with his goodness and they stoned him for his goodness Many are like the high-way side that returns no Crop though you scatter on it never so much seed They are like Aesops Snake that lay still in the Frost but stung him who warmed it in his bosome If it be a sin to return to man evil for evil what is it to
A soule that 's changed is not for changing there cannot be a better being for us then for us to be with thee What we that have left all to follow thee should we follow all to leave thee You cannot tread in the steps of Christ but you will taste of the Cups of Christ The nearer you are to such a spring the clearer will be your streams yea when every Gourd is withered here 's a shaddow that will yeeld you shelter How precious are thy thoughts unto me O God how great is the sum of them If I should count them they are more in number then the sand when I awake I am still with thee Psal 139. 18. As soon as ever he crept out of his warm Bed he crept into Gods warm bosome Beleevers are wont to leave their hearts with God in the evening that they may find them with him in the morning David he was least alone when he was most alone his heart was like the Needle in the Compasse that still points to the Northern Totus in te Deus optime transit affectus cordis mei ad eo ut nihil prorsus sit in universâ Coelorum amplitudine quod ipsum possit oblectare vel â—â— reficere nisâ— tù c. Titelmâ— in locum Pole Whom have I in heaven but thee and there is none upon earth which I desire besides thee Psal 73. 25. Let a Beleever search Heaven and Earth yet he will find nothing comparable with God as Judah said of Jacob His life is bound up in the life of the Lad so may I say of a Christian His life is bound up in the life of God To be neer to him is our happinesse and to draw neere to him is our holinesse I cannot but sadly reflect on the unstableness of rotten Professors An applauded Christ shall have many Hosanahs when a condemned Christ hath many Crucifiges but a true Christian can as well go with Christ to the Cross where he is to be crucified as he can go with Christ to the Throne where he is to be glorified He will not turn like a shadow from him in whom there is no shaddow of turning Tell me soul was there nothing within thee that could draw thee to him and is there any thing without thee that shall draw thee from him Who would leave a substance to court a shaddow Or prize the Picture to the disdain of the person Can any thing do you so much good as his presence or so much hurt as his absence What a dreadfull darkness must needs be expected when the beams of so bright a Sun are eclipsed It 's better to part with a thousand worlds were there so many for one Christ then it 's to part with one Christ for a thousand worlds Every step that you take to him is a step to Heaven and every step that you take from him is a step to Hell And he was sad at that saying and went away grieved for he had great possessions Mark 10. 22. This poor rich man or this rich poor man which you will call him for both you may call him As he came hastily to Christ so he goes heavily from Christ why what 's the matter Goe sell all that thou hast and give it to the poor and thou shalt have treasure in Heaven Christ was for the selling of all and he was for the saving of all If he may not have God and Mammon he will leave God for Mammon Thus will such as make a God of nothing make nothing of a God When he cast his weights into the carnal Scales his corruptible silver did weigh down an incorruptible Saviour Observe the policy of Diabolus quando decipere quenquam quaerit in varias sese transmutat formas jam in leoninam jam in vulpinam aliquando saevit ut terreat Nonnunquam blanditur ut fallat Sibel in cap. 16. Matt. conc 20. p. 256. the Prince of darkness that makes use of the men of the world as instruments to drive us from God and of the things of the world as inticements to draw us from God The Lord is with you whilest you are are with him and if you seek him he will be found of you but if you forsake him he will forsake you Never was man forsaken of God till God was forsaken of man he sticks close to us whilest we stick close to him Truly that good was never worth the getting which was never worth the keeping Thus saith the Lord what iniquity have your fathers found in me that they are gone far from me Jeremy 2. 5. Corruption is a good ground for declension if we saw iniquity in him we might make an apostacy from him for its ill being where sin hath a being but if you can find no fault in God why will you commit such a fault as to depart from God Can any rational man deem it good to shake hands with goodnesse Let me say to such sinners as Saul said unto his servants Hear now ye Benjamites will the son of Jesse give every one of you fields and vineyards and make you all Captains of thousands and Captains in of hundreds 1 Sam. 22. 7. Thus say I to you Can sin Satan or the world doe that for you that God can It 's only the best of beings that can bestow the best of blessings He that hath the Keyes of Heaven can only open the doors of Heaven it s through him that we have an admittance into our choicest inheritance What 's our life but a war-fare and what 's the world but a thorow-fare can the world do more for you without God then God can do for you without the world If that be most potent then leave God for the worlds sake but if he be more potent then leave the world for Gods sake Know it sinner in forsaking of a Saviour thou loosest grace which is the brightest Star on earth and glory which is the fairest Sun in Heaven No men are in more danger of loosing what they have then those men who are contented with what they have A drop is easier dried up then a River and a spark sooner extinct then the fire I will never leave you nor forsake you Heb. 13. 6. Better our goods should goe and leave God behind them then that our God should goe and leave our goods behind him It 's not the brightest Stars that can make it day when the Sun is setting nor the thickest clouds that can make it night whilest the Sun is shining That 's the seventeenth 18. Principle that you should walk by is this That it is our present businesse to make sure of our future blessednesse It 's the Wisemans expression Eccle 6. 7. That all the labour of a man is for his mouth This is not for Heathens to turn Christians but for Christians to turn Heathens That Hawke that flies after the worlds prey will hardly stoop to Gods lure Why should I lay out that for a
heated in the Mid-night of adversity Afflictions are not a fire that 's consuming but a flame that 's refining they are like the prick at the Nightingales breast that awaken her and put her upon her delightful singing Many Saints are like Topps that goes best when they are lasht most For Ireckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us Romans 8. 18. These fall as far short of glory as the smallest fraction of the greatest number or as the least filings of Gold of the riches of the whole Indies If the early glimmerings of our Lord Jesus Christ shroud so much joy and strength within their own beams as over-powers the cross what will his Meridian Rayes of glory doe when they are revealed Will you cast them both into the scales of the Sanctuary 2 Cor. 4. 17. For our light affliction which is but for a moment worketh for us a more exceeding and eternal weight of glory How light is a dram of reproach to a weight of glory and how short a Minute of pains to an Eternity of pleasures He said excellently Bene fertur Calumina cúm acquiritur Corona He need not be weary of the Crosse that 's sure of the Crown After the Cup of affliction comes the cup of salvation The Wine-presse prepares for the Wine-cellar After the pangs and throws comes the child birth O clear up your interest in God A pardon may be past the Princes Seale that is not put into the Prisoners hand Things that are exceeding sharp calls for much Sugar to make them sweet Death is a thing that hath the most ungrateful taste to the creatures pallate Now Grace is baptized with a double name It 's called The first-fruits of the spirit Romans 8. 28. It 's called The earnest of the spirit 2 Cor. 1. 22. It 's a tast to shew us the sweetnesse of eternal life and it 's a pledge to shew us the sureness of eternal life Our Heavenly Physitian will keep us no longer in Physick but till we are thorowly purged Our merciful refiner will detain us no longer in the Furnace but till we are sufficiently purified Patience for sowing the seeds of sorrow on earth shall reap a golden crop of joy in Heaven We may talk of the greatnesse of our future recompence but we shall never know the weight of our Crowns till they be set on our heads nor the worth of our Robes till they be worn on our backs then the pricking Thorn shall be turned into a precious Gem. As darknesse is the absence of light when the Sun is removed from its Horizon so is death the privation of life when the soul is removed from its Prison we have here but jus ad rem there we shall have jus in re Here we have an expectation of our fruitions there we shall have the fruition of our expectations Chear up brave spirits your Wildernesse Nunc deprimuntur et calcantur electi ut olim assurgant et extollantur ad instar palmarum Drex Christian Zod. Sig. 5. p. 42. journeys will soon be periodized The cloth must be cut in peeces before it can be made up in garments The hewing of the timber is for the erecting of the structure The new corn that lives in Summer is produced from the old corn that dyed in the Winter We should willingly embrace death though we should not desperately rush upon it you will be like Civet that 's when it 's taken out of the Box leaves a sweet savour behind it Shall Christ willingly come down from Heaven to earth to dye for us and shall not we willingly go up from earth to Heaven to live with him A Saints loathnesse to expire doth not spring from this root because they judge that death is not good enough for them but it 's a sprig that grows upon this root because they judge thēselves not good enough for death But remember the edg of this keen sword is blunted since the sides of Christ was the scabbard in which it was sheathed When the Ship is in the Haven its Erras mi Christiane erras sicogitas te integrum et non bene contusum perventurum ad coelum Drex loc citat past all storms but by induring storms it at last arriveth at the Haven When we come to Glory there will be no temptations to endure but it s by enduring of temptations that we come to glory When the body and the soul shall part asunder the soul and God shall meet together The sharper your sorrows are here the sweeter will be your joyes hereafter let me allude to that Psal 68. 13. Though ye have lien among the Pots yet shall ye be as the wings of a Dove covered with silver and her feathers with yellow gold All the Grapes in Christs Vineyard must passe thorow the Wine-presse Health is most acceptable after the sharpest sicknesse and liberty most sweet after a rigorous bondage and the harbour most welcome after turbulent storms How pleasant soever a sinners beginning is his ending is dolorous how troublesome soever a Saints beginning is his ending is joyous The fresh Rivers of carnal pleasure run into a salt Sea of despairing tears when the wet seeds-time of a pious life ushers in the Sun-shiny Harvest of a peacefull death When Craesus askt Solon who he Dicique beatus ant◠obitum nemo supremaque funera debet Horat. thought happy he told him one Tellus a man that was dead Happinesse doth not goe before death but death goes before happinesse It 's storied of Adrianus that seeing many Christians put to such cruel and bitter deaths he askt some of them what it was that they suffered such cruel torments for to whom they answered Speramus illa bona quae oculus non videt auras non audivit in cor hominis non ascenderunt We hope for those things which eye hath not seen nor ear heard nor ever entred into the heart of man to conceive They who are born blind are unable to judg of that glory that dazles the very eyes of the Angels One smile in Gods face will dry up all the tears in their eyes When beleevers change earth for Heaven they do not loose their blessednesse but compleat their blessednesse as fishes dropping out of the narrow Brook into the wide Ocean do not leave their Element but are more in it then they were before A beleevers dying is resembled to a burnt-offering now in a burnt-offering when the ashes falls to the earth the flame ascends to Heaven Thus have I set twenty Diamonds in your Golden Ring And so much for the first thing Namely The erection of singular Principles I come now to the last stage for the direction of singular practises Here I shall spread but six Sails and make to the shoar 1. Would you do more then others then you must know more then others I may say of Divine
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