them or perswade themselves there is no danger from thence the coast then is clear they may be as wicked as they please These make inward sins so hugg'd and embraced If thou therefore canst find thy heart set against these I may venture to call thee a Christian and for thy help against them First be earnest with God in prayer to move and order thy heart in its thoughts and desires If the tongue be such an unruly thing that few can tame O what is the heart where such a multitude of thoughts are flying forth as thick as bees from the hive and sparks from the furnace It is not in man not in the holiest on earth to do this without divine assistance Therefore we finde David so often crying out in this respect to order his steps in his Word to unite his heart to his feare to enâ—â—ine his heart to his testimonies As a servant when the childe he tends is troublesome and will not be ruled by him calls out to the father to come to him who no sooner speaks but all is whist with him No doubt holy David found his heart beyond his skill or power that makes him so oft do its errand to God Indeed God hath promised thus much to his children to order their steps for them Psal 37.22 only he looks they should bring their hearts to him for that end Commit thy work to the Lord and thy thoughts shall be established Prov. 16.3 or ordered Art thou setting thy face towards an Ordinance where thou art sure to meet Satan who will be disturbing thee with worldly thoughts and may be worse Let God know from thy mouth whither thou art going and what thy feares are never doth the soule march in so goodly order as when it puts it self under the conduct of God Secondly set a strong guard about thy outward senses these are Satans landing places especially the eye and the eare Take heed what thou importest at these vaine discourse seldome passeth without leaving some tincture upon the heart as unwholesome aire inclines to putrefaction things sweet in themselves so unsavoury discourse to corrupt the minde that is pure look thou breathest therefore in a clear aire And for thy eye let it not wander wanton objects cause wanton thoughts Job knew his eye and his thoughts were like to go together and therefore to secure one he covenants with the other Job 31 1. Thirdly often reflect upon thy self in a day and observe what company is with thy heart A careful Master will ever and anon be looking into his work-house and see what his servants are doing and a wise Christian should do the same We may know by the noise in the school the Master is not there much of the mis-rule in our bosomes ariseth from the neglect of visiting our hearts Now when thou art parlying with thy soule make this threefold enquiry First whether that which thy heart is thinking on be good or evil If evil and wicked such as are proud unclean distrustful thoughts shew thy abhorrency of them and chide thy soul sharply for so much as holding conference with them of which nought can come but dishonour to God and mischief to thy own soul and stirre up thy heart to mourn for the evil neighbour-hood of them and by this thou shalt give a testimony of thy faithfulnesse to God When David mourn'd for Abner all Israel 't is said understood that day that it was not of the King to stay Abner Thy mourning for them will shew these thoughts are not so much of thee as of Satan Secondly if they be not broadly wicked enquire whether they be not empty frothy vaine imaginations that have no subserviency to the glory of God thy own good or others and if so leave not till thou hast made thy selfe apprehensive of Satans designe on thee in them though such are not for thy purpose yet they are for his they serve his turne to keep thee from better All the water is lost that runnes beside the mill and all thy thoughts are waste which help thee not to do Gods work withal in thy general or particular calling The Bee will not sit on a flower where no honey can be suckt neither should the Christian Why sittest thou here idle thou shouldest say to thy soul when thou hast so much to do for God and thy soul and so little time to dispatch it in Thirdly if thou findest they are good for matter thy heart is busied about then enquire whether they be good for time and manner which being wanting they degenerate First for the season that is good fruit which is brought forth in its season Christ liked the work his mother would have put him upon as well as her self John 2. but his time was not come Good thoughts and meditations misplaced are like some interpretations of Scripture good truths but bad expositions they fit not the place they are drawn from nor these the time To pray when we should hear or be musing on the Sermon when we should pray this is to rob God one way to pay him another Secondly tarefully observe the manner Thy heart may meditate a good matter and spoile it in the doing Thou art may be musing of thy sinnes and affecting thy heart into a sense of them but so that while thou art stirring up thy sorrow thou weakenest thy faith on the promise that is thy sinne He is a bad Chirurgion that in opening a veine goes so deep that he cuts an artery and lames the arme if not kills the man Or thou art thinking of thy family and providing for that this thou oughtest to do and wert worse then an infidel if thou neglectest but may be these thoughts are so distracting and distrustfull as if there were no promise no providence to relieve thee God takes this ill because it reflects upon his care of thee O how near doth our duty here stand to our sinne so much care is necessary ballast to the soul a little more sinks it under the waves of unbeliefe like some things very wholesome but one degree more of hot or cold would make them poison CHAP. VIII How Satan labours to corrupt the Christians minde with errour THe second sort of spiritual sinnes are such as are not only acted in the spirit but are conversant about spiritual objects proper to the soules nature that is a spirit and not laid out in carnal passions of fleshly lusts in which the soul acts but as a Pander for the body and partakes of their delights only by way of sympathy for as the soul feels the bodies pains no other way then by sympathy so neither doth it share in the pleasures of the flesh by any proper taste it hath of them but only from its neer neighbourhood with the body doth sympathize with its joy but in spiritual wickednesses that corrupt the minde here the soul moves in its own sphere with a delight proper to it selfe and there are no lesse
children of God and his lot is among the Saints therefore have we erred from the way of truth Wisd 5.4 5. The place is Apocryphal but sinners will finde the matter of it Canonical 'T is true indeed Saints are out-witted by the world in the things of the world and no marvel neither doth it impeach their wisdome any more then it doth a Scholars to be excell'd by the Cobler in his mean trade Nature where it intends higher excellencies is more carelesse in those things that are inferiour as we see in man who being made to excel the beasts in a rational soul is himself excelled by some beast or other in all his senses Thus the Christian may well be surpast in matters of worldly commerce because he hath a nobler object in his eye that makes him converse with the things of the world in a kinde of non-attendance he is not much careful in these matters if he can die well at last and be justified for a wise man at the day of the resurrection all is well he thinks it is not manners to be unwilling to stay so long for the clearing of his wisdom as God can wait for the vindicating of his own glorious Nature which will not appear in its glory till that day when he will convince the ungodly of their hard thoughts and speeches of him Then they shall till then they will not be convinced Secondly a wise man labours duly to time his care and endeavour for the attaining of what he proposeth 'T is the fool that comes when the market is done as the evil day is of great concernment in respect of its event so the placing of our care for it in the right season is of chief importance and that sure must be before it comes There are more doors then one at which the messenger may enter that brings evil tydings to us and at which he will knock we know not we know not where we shall be arrested whether at bed or board whether at home or in the field whether among our friends that will counsel and comfort us or among our enemies that will adde weight to our sorrow by their cruelty We know not when whether by day or night many of us not whether in the morning noon or evening of our age As he calls to work at all times of the day so he doth to bed may be while thou art praying or preaching and it would be sad to go away profaning them and the Name of God in them possibly when thou art about worse work death may strike thy quaffing cup out of thy hand while thou art sitting in the Alehouse with thy jovial mates or meet thee as thou art reeling home and make some ditch thy grave that as thou livedst like a beast so thou shouldest die like a beast In a word we know not the kinde of evil God will use as the instrument to stab us whether some bloody hand of violence shall do it or a disease out of our bowels and bodies whether some acute disease or some lingring sicknesse whether such a sicknesse as shall slay the man while the body is alive I meane take the head and deprive us of our reason or not whether such noisome troubles as shall make our friends afraid to let us breath on them or themselves look on us whether they shall be afflictions aggravated with Satans temptations and the terrours of our own affrighted consciences or not who knowes where when or what the evil day shall be therefore doth God conceal these that we should provide for all Cesar would never let his souldiers know when or whither he meant to march The knowing of these would torment us with distracting fear the not knowing them should awaken us to a providing care It is an ill time to calk the ship when at sea tumbling up and down in a storme This should have been look't to when on her seat in the harbour And as bad it is to begin to trim a soul for heaven when tossing upon a sick bed Things that are done in a hurry are seldome done well A man call'd out of his bed at midnight with a dismal fire on his house-top cannot stand to dresse himself in order as at another time but runs down with one stocking half on may be and the other not on at all Those poor creatures I am afraid go in as ill a dresse into another world who begin to provide for it when on a dying bed conscience calls them up with a cry of hell-fire in their bosomes But alas they must go though they have not time to put their armour on And so they are put to repent at leisure in hell of their shuffling up a repentance in haste here We come to the Application of the Point CHAP. VII The Application of the Point Vse 1 FIrst it reproves those that are so far from providing for the evil day that they will not suffer any thoughts of that day to stay with them they are as unwilling to be led into a discourse of this subject as a childe to be carried into the dark and there left It is a death to them to think of death or that which leads to it As some foolishly think they must needs die presently when they have made their Will so these think they hasten that sorrowful day by musing on it The meditation of it is no more welcome to them then the company of Moses was to Pharaoh Therefore they say to it as he to Moses Get thee from me and let me see thy face no more the seare of it makes them to butcher and make away all those thoughts which conscience stirs up concerning it And at last they get such a mastery of their consciences that they arrive to a kinde of Atheisme it is as rare to have them think or speak of such matters as to see a flie busie in Winter Nothing now but what is frolick and jocund is entertained by them If any such thoughts come as prophesie mirth and carnal content these as right with their hearts are taken up into the chariot to sit with them but all other are commanded to go behinde Alas poor-spirited wretches something might be said for you if this evil day of death and judgement were such entia rationis as had no foundation or being but what our fancies give them such troubles there are in the world which have all their evil from our thoughts when we are disquieted with the scorns and reproaches of men did we but not think of them they were nothing but thy banishing the thoughts of this evil day from thy mind will be a poor short relief Thou canst neither hinder its coming nor take away its sting when it comes by thy slighting it Thou art like a Passenger in a ship sleep or wake thou are going thy voyage Thou doest but like that silly bird who puts her head into a reed and then thinks she is safe from the
man is an unserviceable creature he can do his God no service acceptably spoiles everything he takes in hand like one running up and down in a shop when windows shut doth nothing right It maybe writ on the grave of every sinner who lives and dies in that state Here lies the man that never did God an hours work in all his life Secondly Darknesse is uncomfortable in point of enjoyment be there never such rare pictures in the roome if dark who the better A soul in a state of sinne may possesse much but enjoyes nothing this is a sore evil and little thought of One thought of its state of enmity to God would drop bitternesse into every cup all he hath smells of hell fire and a man at a rich feast would enjoy it sure but little if he smelt fire ready to burn his house and himself in it Thirdly Darknesse fills with terrours fears in the night are most dreadfull a state of sin is a state of fear Men that owe much have no quiet but when they are asleep and not then neither the cares and fears of the day sink so deep as makes their rest troublesome and unquiet in the night The wicked hath no peace but when his conscience sleeps and that sleeps but brokenly awaking often with sick fits of terrour when he hath most prosperity he is scared like a flock of birds in a corn-field at every piece going off He eats in fear and drinks in fear when afflicted he expects worse behinde and knows not what this cloud may spread to and where it may lay him whether in hell or not he knows not and therefore trembles as one in the dark not knowing but his next step may be into the pit Fifthly sin leads to utter darknesse utter darknesse is darknesse to the utmost Sin in its full height and wrath in its full heat together both universal both eternal Here 's some mixture peace and trouble paine and ease sin and thoughts of repenting sin and hopes of pardon there the fire of wrath shall burn without slacking and sin run parallel with torment hell-birds are no changelings their torment makes them sin and their sin feeds their torment both unquenchable one being fuel to another Secondly let us see how it appears that such as are under a state of sin are under the rule of Satan Sinners are call'd the children of the devil 1 John 3.10 and who rules the childe but the Father they are slaves who rules the slave but the Master they are the very mansion-house of the devil where hath a man command but in his own house I will go to my house Mat. 12.44 As if the devil had said I have walk't among the Saints of God to and fro knocking at this door and that and none will bid me welcome I can finde no rest well I know where I may be bold I 'le even go to my own house and there I am sure to rule the roste without controul and when he comes he findes it empty swept and garnished that is all ready for his entertainment Servants make the house trim and handsom against their Master come home especially when he brings guests with him as here the devil brings seven more Look to the sinner there is nothing he is or hath but the devil hath dominion over it He rules the whole man their mindes blinding them All the sinners apprehension of things are shaped by Satan he looks on sin with the devils spectacles he reads the Word with the devils comment he sees nothing in its native colours but is under a continual delusion The very wisdome of a wicked man is said to be devillish James 3.15 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or devil-like because taught by the devil and also such as the devils is wise only to do evil He commands their Wills though not to force them yet effectually to draw them His work saith Christ ye will do You are resolved on your way the devil hath got your hearts and him you will obey and therefore when Christ comes to recover his throne he findes the soule in an uproare as Ephesus at Pauls Sermon crying him down and Diana up We will not have this man reigne over us what is the Almighty that we should serve him He rules over all their members they are call'd weapons of unrighteousness all at the devils service as all the armes of a Kingdome to defend the Prince against any that shall invade The head to plot the hand to act the feet swift to carry the body up and down about his service He rules over all he hath Let God come in a poor member and beseech him to lend him a penny or bestow a morsel to refresh his craving bowels and the covetous wretch his hand of charity is withered that he cannot stretch it forth but let Satan call and his purse flies open and heart also Nabal that could not spare a few fragments for David and his followers this churle could make a feast like a Prince to satiate his own lust of gluttony and drunkennesse He commands their time when God calls to duty to pray to hear no time all the week to be spared for that but if the sinner hears there is a merry meeting a knot of good fellows at the Ale-house all is thrown aside to wait on his Lord and Master calling left at six and sevens yea wife and children crying may be starving while the wretch is pouring out their very blood in wasting their livelihood at the foot of his lust The sinner is in the bond of iniquity and being bound he must obey He is said to go after his lust as the fool to the stocks Prov. 7.22 The pinion'd malefactour can assoon untie his own armes and legs and so run from his Keeper as he from his lusts They are servants and their members instruments of sin even as the Workman takes up his axe and it resists not so doth Satan dispose of them except God saith nay See here the deplored condition of every one in a state of sin He is under the rule of Satan and government of hell What tongue can utter what heart can conceive the misery of this state It was a dismal day which Christ foretold Matth. 24. When the abomination of desolation should be seen standing in the Holy place then saith Christ let him that is in Judea flee into the mountains But what was that to this they were but men though abominable these devils They did but stand in the material Temple defile and deface that but these display their banners in the soules of men pollute that throne which is more glorious then the material heaven it self made for God alone to sit in They exercised their cruelties at furthest on the bodies of men killing and torturing them here the precious soules of men are destroyed When David would curse to purpose the enemies of God he prayes that Satan may be at their right hand 'T
when meat is eaten and digested it is not to be found as it was received but the man is cheered and strengthened by it more able to walke and work then before by which you may know it is not lost so you may taste the truths the Christian heard in his spirit see them in his life Perhaps if you aske him what the particulars were the Minister had about faith mortification repentance and the like he cannot tell you yet this you may finde his heart is more broken for sin more enabled to rely on the promises and now weaned from the world As that good woman answered one that coming from Sermon ask't her what she remembred of the Sermon said she could not at present recal much but she heard that which should make her reforme some things as soon as she came home Secondly meditate on what thou hearest by this David got more wisdome then his teachers Observe what truth what Scripture is cleared to thee in the Sermon more then before take some time in secret to converse with it and make it thereby familiar to thy understanding Meditation to the Sermon is what the harrow is to the seed it covers those truths which else might have been pickt or washt away I am afraid there are many proofs turned down at a Sermon that are hardly turned up and lookt on any more when the Sermon is done and if so you make others believe you are greater traders for your souls then you are indeed as if one should come to a shop and lay by a great deal of rich ware and when he hath done goes away and never calls for it O take heed of such doings The hypocrite cheats himself worst at last Thirdly discharge thy memory of what is sinful We wipe our table-book and deface what is there scribled before we can write new There is such a contrariety betwixt the truths of God and all that is frothy and sinful that one puts out the other if you would retain the one you must let the other go CHAP. VI. Of the Spirituality of the devils nature and their extreme wickednesse Against spiritual wickednesse THese words are the fourth branch in the deseription Spiritual wickednesses and our contest or combate with them as such exprest by the adversative particle Against in the Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 word for word Against the Spirituals of wickednesse which is say some against wicked spirits that is true but not all I conceive with many Interpreters not only the spiritual nature of the devil and the wickednesse thereof to be intended but also yea chiefly the nature and kinde of those sins which these wicked spirits do most usually and vigourously provoke the Saints unto and they are the spirituals of wickednesse not those grosse fleshly sinnes which the herd of beastly sinners like swine wallow in but sin spirituallized and this because it is not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not spirits but spirituals The words present us with these three doctrinal Conclusions First the devils are spirits Secondly the devils are spirits extremely wicked Thirdly these wicked spirits do chiefly annoy the Saints with and provoke them to spiritual wickednesses First of the first SECT I. First they are spirits Spirit is a word of various acception in Scripture Amongst other used often to set forth the essence and nature of Angels good and evil both which are called spirits The holy Angels Heb. 1.14 Are they not all ministring spirits The evil There came forth a spirit and stood before the Lord and said I will perswade him 1 Kings 22.21 that spirit was a devil How oft is the devil call'd the unclean spirit foule spirit lying spirit c. Sin did not alter their substance for then as one saith well that nature and substance which transgrest could not be punish't First the devil is a spirit that is his essence is immaterial and simple not compounded as corporal beings are of matter and forme Handle and see me saith Christ to his disciples that thought they had seen a Spirit a Spirit hath not flesh and bones as ye see me have Luke 24.39 If they were not thus immaterial how could they enter into bodies and possesse them as the Scripture tells us they have even a legion into one man Luke 8.30 one body cannot thus enter into another Secondly the devils are spiritual substances not qualities or evil motions arising from us as some have absurdly conceived So the Sadduces and others following them deny any such being as Angel good or evil but this is so fond a conceit that we must both forfeit our reason and deny the Scriptures to maintain it where we finde their Creation related Col. 1.18 the fall of some from their first estate Jude 6. and the standing of others called the Elect Angels The happinesse of the one who behold Gods face and their employment are sent out to attend on the Saints as servants on their Masters heirs Heb. 1. The misery of the other reserved in chaines of darknesse unto the judgement of the great day and their present work which is to do mischief to the souls and bodies of men as far as they are permitted all which shew their subsistence plain enough But so immerst is sorry man in flesh that he will not easily beleeve what he sees not with his fleshly eyes upon the same account we may deny the being of God himself because invisible Thirdly they are entire spiritual substances which have every very one proper existence and thus they are distinguish't from the souls of men which are made to subsist in a humane body and together with it to make one perfect man so that the soule though when separated from the body it doth exist yet hath a tendency to union with its body again Fourthly they are though entire spiritual substances yet finite being but creatures God only is the uncreated infinite and absolutely simple Spirit yea Father of all other spirits Now from this spiritual nature of the devil we may further see what a dreadful enemy we have to grapple with First as spirits they are of vast intellectual abilities Sorry man while in this dark prison of the body hath not light enough to know what Angelical perfections are that they excel in knowledge all other creatures we know because as Spirits they come nearest by Creation to the Nature of God that made them the heavens are not lift higher from the earth then Angels by knowledge from man while on earth Man by Art hath leatn't to take the height of the stars of heaven but where is he that can tell how far in knowledge Angels exceed man 'T is true they have lost much of that knowledge they had even all their knowledge as holy Angels what now they know of God hath lost its savour and they have no power to use it for their own good What Jude saith of wicked men may be said of them What they
their infernal Father in the world this shews sin is mighty in them indeed Many a man though so cruel to his own soul as to be drunk or sweare yet will not like this in a childe or servant what are they then but devils incarnate who teach their children the devils Catechisme to sweare and lie drink and drab If you meet such be not afraid to call them as Paul did Elymas when he would have perverted the Deputy children of the devil full of all subtilty and mischief and enemies of all righteousnesse O do you not know what you do when you tempt I 'le tell you you do that which you cannot undo by your own repentance thou poisonest one with errour initiatest another in the devils School Alehouse I mean but afterwards may be thou seest thy mistake and recantest thy errour thy folly and givest over thy drunken trade art thou sure now to rectifie and convert them with thy selfe alas poor creatures this is out of thy power they may be will say as he though he did it upon a better account that was solicited to turne back to popery by him who had before perswaded him to renounce the same You have given me one turn but shall not give me another And what a grief to thy spirit will it be to see these going to hell on thy errand and thou not able to call them back thou mayest cry out as Lamâ—ch I have slaine a man to my wounding and a young man to my hurt Nay when thou art asleep in thy grave he whom thou seducedst may have drawn in others and thy name may be quoted to commend the opinion and practice to others by which as it is said though in another sense Abel being dead yet speaks thou mayest though dead sinne in those that are alive generation after generation A little spark kindled by the errour of one hath cost the pains of many ages to quench it and when thought to be out hath broke forth again Thirdly They are not barely wicked but maliciously wicked The Devill hath his name 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to denote his spightfull nature his desire to vex and mischief others When he drawes souls to sinne it is not because he tastes any sweetnesse or findes any profit therein he hath too much light to have any joy or peace in sin he knows his doome and trembles at the thought of it and yet his spightful nature makes him vehemently desire and uncessantly endeavour the damnation of souls As you shall see a mad dogge run after a flock of sheep kill one then another and when dead not able to eate of their flesh but kills to kill so Satan is carried out with a boundlesse rage against man especially the Saints he would not if he could leave one of Christs flock alive such is the height of his malice against God whom he hates with a perfect hatred and because he cannot reach him with a direct blow therefore he strikes him at second hand through his Saints that wicked arme which reacheth not to God is extended against these excellent on the earth well knowing the life of God is in a manner bound up in theirs God cannot outlive his honour and his honour speeds as his mercy is exalted or depressed this being the attribute God meanes to honour in their salvation so highly and therefore maligned above the rest by Satan And this is the worst that can be said of these wicked spirits that they maliciously spite God and in God the glory of his mercy Vse 1 First this may help us to conceive more fully what the desperate wickednesse of mans nature is which is so hard to be known because it can never be seen at once it being a fountain whose immensity consists not in the streame of actual sinne that is visible and may seem little but in the spring that uncessantly feeds this but here is a glasse that will give us the shape of our hearts truly like themselves Seest thou the monstrous pitch and height of wickednesse that is in the devil all this there is in the heart of every man there is no lesse wickednesse potentially in the tamest sinner on earth then in the devils themselves and that one day thou whoever thou art wilt shew to purpose if God prevent thee not by his renewing grace thou art not yet fledg'd thy wings are not grown to make thee a flying Dragon but thou art of the same brood the seed of this serpent is in thee and the devil begets a child like himselfe thou yet standest in a soile not so proper for the ripening of sinne which will not come to its fulnesse till transplanted unto hell Thou who art here so maidenly and modest as to blush at some sinnes out of shame and forbear the acting of others out of fear when there thou shalt see thy case as desperate as the devil doth his then thou wilt spit out thy blasphemies with which thy nature is stuft with the same malice that he doth The Indians have a conceit that when they die they shall be transform'd into the deformed likenesse of the devil therefore in their language they have the same word for a dead man and the devil sinne makes the wicked like him before they come there but indeed they will come to their countenance more fully there when those flames shall wash off that paint which here hides their complexion The Saints in heaven shall be like the Angels in their alacrity love and constancy to serve God and the damned like the devils in sinne as well as punishment This one consideration might be of excellent use to unbottome a sinner and abase him so as never to have high thought of himself It is easie to runne down a person whose life is wicked and convince him of the evil of his actions and make him confesse what he doth is evil but here is the thicket we lose him in he will say 't is true I am overseen I do what I should not God forgive me but my heart is good Thy heart good sinner and so is the devils his nature is wicked and thine as bad as his These pimples in thy face shew the heat of thy corrupt nature within and without Gospel-physick the blood of Christ applied to thee thou wilt die a Leper none but Christ can give thee a new heart till which thou wilt every day grow worse and worse Sin is an hereditary disease that encreaseth with age A young sinner will be an old devil Vse 2 Again it would be of use to the Saints especially those in whom God by his timely call forestall'd the devils market as sometimes the Spirit of God takes sin in its quarters before it comes into the field in the sinnes of youth now such a one finding not those daring sinnes committed by him that others have been left unto may possibly not be so affected with his own sinne or Gods mercy O let such a one behold here
God be more frequently conversant with it David tells us where he renewed his spiritual life and got his soul so oft into a heavenly heate when grace in him began to chill The Word he tells us quickened him This was the Sunny bank he fate under The Word draws forth the Christians grace by presenting every one with an object suitable to act upon this is of great power to rouse them up as the coming in of a friend makes us though sleepy before shake off all drowsinesse to enjoy his company Affections they are actuated when their object is before them if we love a person this is excited by sight of him or anything that mindes us of him if we hate one our blood riseth much more against him when before us Now the Word bring the Christian graces and their object together Here love may delight her self with the beholding Christ who is set out to life there in all his love and lovelinesse here the Christian may see his sins in a glasse that will not flatter him and can there any godly sorrow be in the heart any hatred of sin and not come forth while the man is reading what they cost Christ for him Secondly from the Word go to meditation this is as bellowes to the fire that grace which lies chosk't and eaten up for want of exercise will by this be cleared and break forth while thou art musing this fire will burne and thy heart grow hot within thee according to the nature of the subject thy thoughts dwell upon resolve therefore Christian to enclose some time from all worldly Suitours wherein thou mayest every day if possible at least take a view of the most remarkable occurrences that have past between God and thee First ask thy soul what takings it hath had that day what mercies heaven hath sent into thee and do not when thou hast askt the question like Pilate go out but stay till thy soul has made report of Gods gracious dealings to thee and if thou beest wise to observe and faithful to relate them thy conscience must tell thee that the cock was never turn'd the breast of mercy never put up all the day yea while thou art viewing these fresh mercies telling over this new coine hot out of the mint of Gods bounty ancient mercies they will come crowding in upon thee and call for a place in thy thoughts and tell thee what God hath done for thee moneths and years ago and indeed old debts should not be paid last give them Christian all a hearing one time or another and thou shalt see how they will work upon thy ingenious spirit It is with the Christian in this case as with some Merchants servant that keeps his Masters cash he tells his Master he hath a great summe of his by him and desires he would discharge him of it and see how his accounts stand but he can never finde him at leisure There is a great treasure of mercy alwayes in the Christians hands and conscience is oft calling the Christian to take the account and see what God has done for him but seldom it is he can finde time to tell his mercies over and is it any wonder that such should go behinde-hand in their spiritual estate who take no more notice what the gracious dealings of God are with them how can he be thankful that seldome thinks what he receives or patient when God afflicts that wants one of the most powerful arguments to pacifie a mutinous spirit in trouble and that is taken from the abundant good we receive at the hands of the Lord as well as a little evil how can such a soules love flame to God that is kept at such a distance from the mercies of God which are fuel to it and the like might be said of all the other graces Secondly reflect upon thy self and bestow a few serious thoughts upon thy own behaviour what it hath been towards God and man all along the day Ask thy soul as Elisha his servant Whence comest thou O my soul where hast thou been what hast thou done for God this day and how and when thou goest about this look that thou neither beest taken off from a through search as Jacob was by Rachels specious excuse nor be found to cocker thy self as Eli his sons when thou shalt upon enquiry take thy heart tardy in any part of thy duty take heed what thou doest for thou judgest for God who receives the wrong by thy sin and therefore will do himself justice if thou wilt not Thirdly from meditation go to prayer indeed a soul in meditation is on his way to prayer that duty leads the Christian has to this and this brings help to that when the Christian has done his utmost by meditation to excite his graces and chase his spirit into some divine heat he knows all this is but to lay the wood in order The fire must come from above to kindle and this must be fetch 't by prayer They say stars have greatest influences when they are in conjunction with the Sunne then sure the graces of a Saint should never work more powerfully then in prayer for then he is in the nearest conjunction and communion with God That Ordinance which hath such power with God must needs have a mighty influence on our selves It will not let God rest but raiseth him up to his peoples succour and is it any wonder if it be a means to rouse up and excite the Christians grace how oft do we see a dark cloud upon Davids spirit at the beginning of his prayer which by that time he is a little warme in his work begins to clear up and before he ends breaks forth into high actings of faith and acclamations of praise Only here Christian take heed of formal praying this is as baneful to grace as not praying A plaister though proper and of soveraign vertue yet if it be laid on cold may do more hurt then good Fourthly to all the former joyne fellowship and communion with the Saints thou lived amongst No wonder to hear a house is robb'd that stands far from neighbours he that walks in communion of Saints he travels in company he dwells in a City where one house keeps up another to which Jerusalem is compared 'T is observable concerning the house in whose ruines Jobs children were entombed that a winde came from the wildernesse and smote the foure corners of it it seems it stood alone the devil knowes what he does in hindering this great Ordinance of communion of Saints in doing this he hinders the progresse of grace yea brings that which Christians have into a declining wasting state The Apostle couples those two duties close together to hold fast our Profession and to consider one another and provoke unto love and to good works Heb. 10.23 24. Indeed it is a dangerous step to Apostasy to forsake the communion of Saints hence 't is said of Demas he hath left us and
embraced the present world O what mischief has Satan done us in these few late years in this one particular what is become of this communion of Saints where are there two or three to be found that can agree to walk together those that could formerly suffer together cannot sit together at their Fathers table can hardly pray one with or one for another the breath of one Christian is strange to another that once lay in his bosome This is a lamentation and shall be for a lamentation CHAP. V. The words opened and what is meant by the evill day That ye may be able to withstand in the evil day and having done c. WE come to the argument with which the Apostle urgeth the exhortation and that is double The first hath respect to the houre of battel that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day The second to the happy issue of the war which will crown the Christian thus arm'd and that is certain victory and having done all stand First of the first That ye may be able to withstand in the evil day But what is this evil day Some take this evil day to comprehend the whole life of a Christian here below in this vale of tears and then the argument runs thus Take to your selves the whole Armour of God that you may be able to persevere to the end of your life which you will finde as it were one continued day of trouble and trial Thus Jacob drawes a black line over his whole life Few and evil have the days of my life been Gen. 47. What day shines so faire that over casts not before night yea in which the Christian meets not with some shower or other enough to deserve the name of an evil day Every day hath its portion yea proportion Sufficient is the evil of the day We need not borrow and take up sorrows upon use of the morrow to make up our present load as we read of daily bread so of a daily crosse Luke 9.23 which we are bid to take not to make we need not make crosses for our selves as we are prone to do God in his Providence will provide one for us and we are bid to take it up but we hear nothing of laying it down till crosse and we lie down together our troubles and our lives are coetaneous live and die together here when joy comes sorrow is at its heel staffe and rod go together Job himself whose prosperity the devil so grudg'd and set forth in all his bravery and pomp Job 1.10 as if his Sun had no shadow heare what account this good man gives of this his most flourishing time chap. 3. 26. I was not in safety neither had I rest neither was I quiet There were some troubles that broke his rest when his bed was to thinking as sort as heart could wish even now this good man tosses and tumbles from one side to the other and is not quiet If one should have come to Job and blessed him with his happy condition and said Surely Job thou couldest be content with what thou hast for thy portion if thou mightest have all this setled on thee and thy heires after thee he would have said as once Luther that God should not put him off with these Such is the Saints state in this bottome that their very life here and all the pompous entertainments of it they are their crosse because they detain them from their crown We need nothing to make our life an evil day more then our absence from our chief good which cannot be recompenced by the world nor enjoyed with it Only this goodnesse there is in this evil that it is short our life is but an evil day it will not last long and sure it was mercy that God hath abridged so much of the terme of mans life in these last dayes wherein so much of Christ and Heaven are discovered that it would have put the Saints patience hard to it to have known so much of the upper worlds glory and then be kept so long from it as the Fathers in the first age were O comfort one another Christians with this though your life be evil with troubles yet 't is short a few steps and you are out of the raine There is great difference between a Saint in regard of the evils he meets with and the wicked as two travellers riding contrary wayes both taken in the rain and wet but one rides from the raine and so is soon out of the showre but the other rides into the rainy corner the further he goes the worse he is The Saint he meets with troubles as well as the wicked but he is soon out of the showre when death comes he has faire weather but the wicked the further he goes the worse what he meets with here is but a few drops the great storme is the last The pouring out of Gods wrath shall be in hell where all the deeps of horrour are opened both from above of Gods righteous fury and from beneath of their own accusing and tormenting consciences Secondly others take the phrase in a more restrained sense to denote those particular seasons of our life wherein more especially we meet with afflictions and sufferings Beza reads it tempore adverso in the time of our adversity Though our whole life be evil if compared with Heavens blisseful state our clearest day night to that glorious morning yet one part of our life compared with another may be called good and the other evil we have our vicissitudes here The Providences of God to his Saints here while on this low bottome of earth are mixt and particoloured as was signified by the speckled horses in Zechariahs vision Red and white peace and war joy and sorrow checker our days Earth is a middle place betwixt heaven and hell and so is our state here it partakes of both we go up hill and down till we get to our journeys end yea we finde the deepest slough nearest our fathers house Death I mean into which all the other troubles of out life fall as streames into some great river and with which they all end and are swallowed up This being the comprehensive evil I conceive to be meant here being made remarkable by a double article 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that day that evil day not excluding those other dayes of tribulation which intervene These are but so many petty deaths every one snatching away a piece of our lives with them or like Pages sent before to usher in this King of terrours that comes behinde The phrase being opened let us consider the strength of this first argument with which the Apostle reinforceth his exhortation of taking to our selves the whole Armour of God and that consists in three weighty circumstances First the nature and quality of this day of affliction it is an evil day Secondly the unavoidablenesse of this evil day of affliction implied in the forme of speech that
you may withstand in the evil day He shuts out all hope of escaping as if he had said you have no way but to withstand please not your selves with thoughts of shunning battel the evil day must come be you arm'd or notarm'd Thirdly the necessity of this armour to withstand As we cannot run from it so not bear up before it and oppose the force which will be made against us except clad with Armour These would afford several points but for brevity we shall lay them together in one Conclusion CHAP. VI. Sheweth that the day of affliction is evil and in what respects as also unavoidable and why to be prepared for IT behoves everyone to arme and prepare himself for the evil day of affliction and death which unavoidably he must conflict with The point hath three branches First the day of affliction and death is an evil day Secondly this evil day is unavoidable Thirdly it behoves every one to provide for this evil day First of the first branch the day of affliction especially death is an evil day Here we must shew how affliction is evil and how not First it is not morally or intrinsecally evil if it were evil in this sense First God could not be the author of it his nature is so pure that no such evil can come from him any more then the Sunnes light can make night But this evil of affliction he voucheth for his own act Against this family do I devise an evil Mic. 3.2 yea more he impropriates it so to himself as that he will not have us think any can do us evil beside himself 'T is the Prerogative he glories in that there is no evil in the City but it is of his doing Amos 3.6 And well it is for the Saints that their crosses are all made in heaven they would not else be so fitted to their backs as they are But for the evil of sin he disownes it with a strict charge that we lay not this brat which is begotten by Satan upon our impure hearts at his door Let no man say when he is tempted I am tempted of God for God cannot be tempted with evil neither tempteth he any man James 1.13 Secondly if affliction were thus intrinsecally evil it could in no respect be the object of our desire which sometimes it is and may be We are to choose affliction rather then sin yea the greatest affliction before the least sin Moses chose affliction with the people of God rather then the pleasures of sin for a season We are bid rejoyce when we fall into divers temptations that is afflictions But in what respects then may the day of affliction be called evil First as it is grievous to sense in Scriprure evil is oft put as contradistinct to joy and comfort We looked for peace and behold no good A merry heart is called a good heart a sad spirit an evil spirit because nature hath an abhorrency to all that opposeth its joy and this every affliction doth more or lesse No affliction while present is joyous but grievous it hath like Physick an unpleasing farewel to the sense Therefore Salomon speaking of the evil dayes of sicknesse expresseth them to be so distasteful to nature that we shall say We have no pleasure in them They take away the joy of our life Natural joy is a true flower of the Sun of prosperity it opens and shuts with it 'T is true indeed the Saints never have more joy then in their affliction but this comes in upon another score they have a good God that sends it in or else they would be as sadly on it as others 'T is no more natural for comfort to spring from afflictions then for grapes to grow on thornes or Manna in the wildernesse The Israelites might have look't long enough for such bread if heaven had not miraculously rained it down God chooseth this season to make the Omnipotency of his love the more conspicuous As Elijah to adde to the miracle first causeth water in abundance to be poured upon the wood and sacrifice so much as to fill the trench and then brings fire from heaven by his prayer to lick it up Thus God poures out the flood of affliction upon his children and then kindles that inward joy in their bosomes which licks up all their sorrow yea he makes the very waters of affliction they float on adde a further sweetnesse to the musick of their spiritual joy but still it is God that is good and affliction that is evil Secondly the day of affliction is an evil day as it is an unwelcome remembrancer of what sinful evils have passed in our lives It revives the memory of old sins which it may be were buried many years ago in the grave of forgetfulnesse The night of affliction is the time when such ghosts use to walk in mens consciences and as the darknesse of the night addes to the horrour of any scareful object so doth the state of affliction which is it self uncomfortable adde to the terrour of our sinnes then remembred Never did the Patriarchs sin look so ghastly on them as when it recoil'd upon them in their distresse Gen. 42.21 The sinner then hath more real apprehensions of wrath then at another time affliction approximates judgement yea it is interpreted by him as a Pursevant sent to call him presently before God and therefore must needs beget a woful confusion and consternation in his spirit O that men would think of this how they could bear the sight of their sins and a Rehearsal Sermon of all their wayes in that day That is the blessed man indeed who can with the Prophet then look on them and triumph over them This indeed is a dark parable as he calls it few can skill of it as Ps 94.3 4. I will open my dark saying upon the harp wherefore should I feare in the day of evil when the iniquity of my heels compasseth me about Thirdly the day of affliction makes discovery of much evil to be in the heart which was not seen before Affliction shakes and royles the creature if any sediment be at the bottome it will appear then Sometimes it discovers the heart to be quite naught that before had some seeming good these suds wash off the hypocrites paint Natura vexata prodit seipsam When corrupt nature is vext it shews it self and some afflictions do that to purpose We reade of such as are offended when persecution comes they fall quite out with their Profession because it puts them to such cost and trouble others in their distresse that curse their God Isa 8.21 It is impossible for a naughty heart to think well of an afflicting God The hireling if his Master takes up a staffe to beat him throws down his work and runs away and so doth a false heart serve God Yea even where the person is gracious corruption is oft found to be stronger and grace weaker then they were thought to be
must deliver thee up when that comes Even when thy strength is firmest and thou eatest thy bread with a merry heart that very food which nourisheth thy life gives thee withal an earnest of death as it leaves those dregs in thee which will in time procure the same O how unavoidable must this evil day of death be when that very staffe knocks us down to the grave at last which our life leans on and is preserved by God owes a debt both to the first Adam and second to the first he owes the wages of his sin to the second the reward of his sufferings The place for full payment of both is the other world so that except death comes to convey man thither the wicked who are the posterity of the first Adam will misse of that full pay for their sins which the threatening makes due debt and engageth God to perform The godly also who are the seed of Christ these should not receive the whole purchase of his blood which he would never have shed but upon the credit of thar promise of eternal life which God gave him for them before the world began This is the reason why God hath made this day so sure in it he dischargeth both bonds The third branch of the point follows That it behoves every one to prepare and effectually to provide for this evil day which so unavoidably impends us And that upon a twofold account First in point of duty Secondly in point of wisdome First in point of duty First it is upon our allegiance to the great God that we provide and arme our selves against this day Suppose a subject were trusted with one of his Princes castles and this man should hear that a puissant enemy was coming to lay siege to this castle yet takes no care to lay in armes and provision for his defence and so 't is lost how could such a one be clear'd of treason doth he not basely betray the place and with it his Princes honour into the enemies hand Our souls are this castle which we are every one to keep for God We have certain intelligence that Satan hath a design upon them and the time when he intends to come with all his powers of darknesse to be that evil day Now as we would be found true to our trust we are obliged to stand upon our defence and store our selves with what may enable us to make a vigorous resistance Secondly we are obliged to provide for that day as a suitable return for and improvement of the opportunities and meanes which God affords us for this very end We cannot without shameful ingratitude to God make waste of those helps God gives us in order to this great work Every one would cry out upon him that should basely spend that money upon riot in prison which was sent him to procure his deliverance out of prison And do we not blush to bestow those talents upon our lusts and Satan which God graciously indulgeth to deliver us from them and his rage in a dying houre what have we Bibles for Ministers and preaching for if we mean not to furnish our selves by them with armour for the evil day In a word what is the intent of God in lengthening out our dayes and continuing us some while here in the land of the living was it that we might have time to revel or rather ravel out upon the pleasure of this vaine world Doth he give us our precious time to be employed in catching such butterflies as these earthly honours and riches are It cannot be Masters do not use if wise to set their servants about such work as will not pay for the candle they borne in doing it And truly nothing lesse then the glorifying of God and saving our soules at last can be worth the precious time we spend here The great God hath a greater end then most think in this dispensation If we would judge aright we should take his own interpreration of his actions and the Apostle Peter bids us count that the long-suffering of the Lord is salvation 2 Pet. 3.15 which plate he quotes out of Paul as to the sense though not in the same forme of words which in Rom. 2.4 are these Or despisest thou the riches of his goodnesse and forbearance and long-suffering not knowing that the goodnesse of God leadeth thee to repentance From both places we are taught what is the minde of God and the language he speaks to us in by every moments patience and inch of time that is granted to us It is a space given for repentance God sees as we are death and judgement could bring no good news to us we are in no case to welcome the evil day and therefore mercy stands up to plead for the poor creature in Gods bosome and begs a little time more may be added to its life that by this iudulgence it may be provoked to repent before he be called to the bar Thus we come by every day that is continually superadded to our time on earth And doth not this lay a strong obligation on us to lay out every point of this time unto the same end 't is begged for Secondly in point of wisdome The wisdom of a man appears most eminently in two things First in the matter of his choice and chief care Secondly in a due timing of this his choice and care First a wife man makes choice of that for the subject of his chief care and endeavour which is of greatest importance and consequence to him fools and children only are intent about toys and trifles They are as busie and earnest in making of a house of dirt or cards as Solomon was in making of his Temple Those poor bables are as adequate to their foolish apprehensions as great enterprises are to wise men Now such is the importance of the evil day especially that of death that it proves a man a fool or wise as he comports himself to it The end specifies every action and gives it the name of good or evil of wise or foolish The evil day of death is as the end of our dayes so to be the end of all the actions of our life Such will our life be found at last as it hath been in order to this one day If the several items of our life counsels and projects that we have pursued when they shall then be cast up will amount to a blessed death then we shall appear to be wise men indeed but if after all our goodly plots and policies for other things we be unprovided for that houre we must be content to die fooles at last And no such fool as the dying fool The Christian goes for the fool in the worlds account while he lives but when death comes the wise world will then confesse they mis-call'd him and shall take it to themselves We fooles counted his life to be madnesse and his end to be without honour But how is he now numbred among the